Delhi High Court denies anticipatory bail to AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court on Monday denied anticipatory bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan in a money laundering case registered against him for alleged irregularities in Delhi Waqf Board recruitments and leasing of properties..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma rejected Khan's plea for anticipatory bail while also observing that he cannot be allowed to continuously evade summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the matter. ."In this Court’s opinion, repeated disobedience of summons of the investigating agency is equivalent to Obstruction of investigation - Obstruction of investigation is equivalent to obstruction of administration of justice - Obstruction of administration of justice is equivalent to Eroding trust and confidence in the criminal justice system - and eroding trust and confidence in the criminal justice system will lead to Anarchy and diminished respect for the rule of law," the Bench held. .The Court further emphasised that a public figure like Khan is not above the law and public figures are not allowed to disobey summons from probe agencies. Public figures cannot be given special treatment, Justice Sharma added..She also observed that investigating agencies are doing public service and Khan should have appeared before the ED to clear his role in the case. "Cooperation with investigation is also public service," the Court observed..Therefore, Justice Sharma rejected Khan's argument that being a representative of the people, he was unable to attend the ED's summons as he was busy with public work. This cannot be a ground for Khan to skip the repeated summons by the ED, the Court ruled.The Court proceeded to dismiss Khan's plea for pre-arrest bail. .Khan's plea for anticipatory bail was earlier rejected by a trial court on March 1.He then approached the High Court by filing an appeal against the trial court order.Khan argued that he is not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing or any violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in any way. Therefore, his life and liberty must be protected from unwarranted and unjustified encroachment at the hands of the ED, he said.Khan added that he was being targeted by the investigating agency through baseless and frivolous allegations and that ED has implicated him in a false and concocted story.“There is no bribe amount involved therefore there is no generation of Proceeds of Crime which leaves no scope of Applicant’s involvement in any activity of placement, layering and/or integration of any proceeds of crime and as such, there is no question of any violation of the provisions of the PMLA,” Khan's plea argued..The money laundering case against Khan relates to the alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board recruitment. It is alleged that when Khan was the Chairman of the Waqf Board, he illegally recruited people in violation of the law.The Anti-Corruption Bureau first booked him in the case and subsequently, the ED proceedings began..As reported earlier, the AAP legislator had also moved another plea before the High Court challenging the ED and ACB case. However, this plea was later withdrawn on February 7. .Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal along with advocates Rajat Bhardwaj, Adit S Pujari, Mohd Irshad, Kanish Raj, Kaustubh Khanna, Rishikesh Kumar and Roopali appeared for Amanatullah Khan. ED was represented through its Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Special Public Prosecutors Manish Jain and S Benjamin along with advocates Vivek Gurnani, Kartik Sabharwal, Kanishk Maurya, Vivek Gaurav and Pranjal. .[Read Judgement]