The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested three alleged associates of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan Saturday in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of staff for the Delhi Waqf Board. Last month, the agency had raided the premises of the 49-year-old AAP legislator who represents the Okhla constituency in the Delhi Assembly. A source in the ED said, “Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir, and Jawed Imam Siddiqui have been taken into custody under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). All three were associates of Khan and had dubious cash transactions between them.” The ED, after the raids, had alleged Khan acquired huge proceeds of crime in cash through illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested the amount to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates. “Searches were conducted in the case related to illegal recruitment of staff in Delhi Waqf Board and illegal personal gains by way of unfairly leasing out of Waqf Board properties during the chairmanship of the board by Amanatullah Khan during 2018-2022,” the ED had said in a statement. It had said that an FIR by the CBI and three Delhi Police complaints formed the basis of the ED action against the AAP MLA. Meanwhile, a Delhi court Saturday refused the ED’s request seeking 14-day custodial interrogation of the three men after the defence counsel accused the agency of “illegal detention”. Special Judge Nyay Bindu sent the accused to judicial custody till Sunday, saying the arguments were likely to take a long time to conclude.
