Supreme Court refuses anticipatory bail to AAP's Amanatullah Khan but says ED cannot take right to arrest for granted

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Amanatullah Khan in connection with a money laundering case filed against him in connection with irregularities in recruitment to the Delhi Waqf Board and the leasing of some properties [Amanatullah Khan vs Directorate of Enforcement]..However, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also cautioned the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against unnecessarily exercising the right to arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).The Court said that Khan should not be arrested unless there is sufficient material against him. ."Arrest him if material is there and no arrest if no material. Let Section 19 PMLA be followed. Please follow the earlier order. Right to arrest should not be taken for granted," the Court said, while addressing the ED's counsel, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju. .The Delhi High Court had earlier denied anticipatory bail to Khan. In the March 11 verdict, the High Court had observed that Khan cannot be allowed to continuously evade summons issued by the ED in the matter.Further, 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, the High Court said.This judgment was challenged before the Supreme Court..The Supreme Court today was prompt to express that it was not inclined to entertain any plea for anticipatory bail. The Bench also echoed the High Court's observation that Khan cannot skip ED summons in the matter. "No, no, how can you skip summons like this ? We are not going to issue notice. You must join the investigation," Justice Khanna observed. "We will join the probe tomorrow," Khan's counsel replied..The Court refused to issue formal notice in the matter to ED but ordered the following:"No notice on appeals to the extent of denial of anticipatory bail. We have reservations regarding Section 50 of PMLA in the case. We clarify that observations in the impugned judgment will not be treated as merits of the case concerning the petitioner. Let Non-bailable warrant not be executed.".Supreme Court issues notice to Delhi Police in appeal by Amanatullah Khan against decision to list him as 'bad character'.The allegations against Khan concern his time as the Chairman of the Waqf Board. He has been accused of illegally recruiting people in violation of the law. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) first booked him in the case and subsequently, the ED proceedings began.The AAP legislator later moved a plea before the High Court challenging the ED and ACB case. However, this plea was withdrawn on February 7.Khan's plea for anticipatory bail was then rejected by a trial court on March 1. After the High Court confirmed the trial court's decision, Khan approached the Supreme Court for relief..Judicial custody of Arvind Kejriwal in ED case extended till April 23