SC rejects Amanatullah Khan's bail plea, asks him to appear before ED

The Supreme Court Monday refused to entertain an anticipatory bail plea of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board during his chairmanship.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta asked Khan to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Apr 18 at 11 am in the case.

The bench took exception to certain observations made in the March 11 verdict of the Delhi High Court with regard to the merit of the case and said it will not have any bearing in the matter.

The Okhla MLA had approached the Delhi High Court after his application for anticipatory bail in the case was rejected by a trial court on March 1.

Khan was not named as an accused in the charge sheet that the ED filed recently.

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.

Searches were conducted in the case related to illegal recruitment of staff and alleged 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 said.

Several "incriminating" material 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.