AAP's Amanatullah Khan on Monday morning claimed that Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have reached his house to arrest him.
He posted on X, “ED people have just arrived at my house to arrest me”.
Speaking to ANI, the AAP MLA said, "It is 7 AM right now. ED has come to my residence to arrest me in the name of a search warrant. My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer. She had an operation four days ago. She is also at my house. I have written to them (ED) and I have replied to every notice. "
“Their only motive is to arrest me and stop our (AAP) work. For the last two years, these people have been harassing me, and filing fake cases against me. Every day, they are creating some or the other problem for not only me but my entire party...”
“We are neither going to bow down to them nor are we going to be afraid of them, they will send us to jail. I am hopeful that the way we got justice in the court earlier, this time too we will get justice...,” he goes on to add
The case is linked to money laundering charges against Khan. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR and there are three Delhi Police complaints.
The agency has named five people in its prosecution complaint (the ED's equivalent of a charge sheet) that included three alleged associates of Khan -- Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui.
Speaking on the issue, Congress Joint Secretary Sushant Mishra said, "The misuse of any agency is wrong. Using it with the wrong intention is not right. The agencies were created from the beginning to do good work but you have seen that it is being misused in many places. I don't know what is their motive and whether they are conducting raids and what is the matter in it. But if the intention is wrong, politically influenced, then it is a very wrong act..."
The ED, which earlier conducted raids on the premises of the legislator, has claimed that Khan acquired "huge proceeds of crime" in cash through illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested those to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates.
The searches were conducted in the case related to illegal recruitment of staff and illegitimate personal gains made by the accused by way of unfairly leasing Waqf Board properties during 2018-2022 when Khan was its chairperson, the ED has said.
Several "incriminating" materials in the form of physical and digital evidence were seized during the raids, indicating Khan's involvement in the offence of money laundering, the ED has said.
In March, while disapproving the repeated evasion of summons of investigating agencies by public persons, the high court had refused to grant anticipatory bail to the AAP MLA in the case.
(To be updated further)
