New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday detained Aam Aadmi Party MLA, Amanatullah Khan. The investigative agency earlier today arrived at his residence to conduct a raid.
The matter pertains to irregularities in the Waqf properties. Khan is the Chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board.
As ED officials took the AAP MLA from his home, Amanatullah Khan shouted out to his supporters, "I am innocent."
Earlier today, AAP MLA's cousin Minnatullah Khan said that despite investigation by Anti-Corruption Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation, nothing has been found yet.
He said, "His mother-in-law has been operated on recently, she is a cancer patient. Despite investigation by ACB and CBI, nothing has been found yet...Now ED is investigating."
In a self-made video, the AAP MLA said that the investigative agency has been continuously harassing him for the past two years.
"It is seven in the morning, and the ED has come to arrest me in the name of a search warrant. My mother-in-law has cancer, and she is currently at my home. I have written to them, and I have also replied to each of their notices. These people have been harassing me continuously for the last two years. Their only aim is to break our party. We are not going to bow down, and we are not going to break," Khan said.
Targeting the ED, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused the Enforcement Directorate of conducting the investigation with malice against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan despite being repeatedly reprimanded by the Supreme Court.
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that the central government is trying to increase the pressure on AAP ahead of the Assembly election in Delhi.
"The whole country is seeing how the agencies are being misused and as the elections come closer, these people will increase this kind of pressure even more," Bhardwaj said.
Earlier in April this year, the Rouse Avenue Court granted bail to Khan in connection with the Enforcement Directorate's recent complaint filed against him for alleged non-attendance of the summons in the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case.
The federal probe agency had alleged that Khan has elevated his role from witness to accused by filing an anticipatory bail plea and running away from the investigation. ED's lawyer further stated that they were never able to conclude the probe against him because he was not presenting himself before the agency.
A charge sheet has already been filed against four accused persons and one firm. It has been alleged that Rs 100 crore Waqf Properties were given on lease illegally. It is also alleged that 32 contractual employees were appointed in the Delhi Waqf Board during the chairmanship of Khan, who flouted the rules.
—ANI