ACB Finds Hawala Connection In Raids Conducted On AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan's Close Aides

The Delhi Police has arrested Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan’s close aide Hamid Ali after a raid by the anti-corruption branch, officials on Saturday said.

The ACB had on Friday arrested Khan after conducting raids at four premises in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board recruitment.

Ali's premise was one of the locations raided by the ACB on Friday.

According to officials, one unlicensed weapon, Rs 12 lakh in cash, and some cartridges were recovered from there.

Ali has been arrested by the southeast district police under Arms Act.

The anti-corruption agency seized Rs 24 lakh in cash and two unlicensed weapons in all in raids at four locations.

The ACB had summoned Khan in a case pertaining to alleged financial misappropriation and other irregularities in the functioning of the Delhi Waqf Board, which Khan heads as its chairman.

An FIR was already registered in connection with the alleged wrongdoing in the board.

As alleged in the FIR, the ACB's Friday statement said, Khan, while working as chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, illegally recruited 32 people violating all norms and government guidelines and engaged in corruption and favouritism.

The then CEO of Delhi Waqf Board had clearly given a statement and issued a memorandum against the illegal recruitment, the statement had said.

Two FIRs have been registered by the ACB in southeast district pertaining to recovery of illegal weapons.

The ACB has also found a red diary that contains entries about transactions worth crores of rupees made by Amanatullah's close aides and business partners, Hamid and Laddan alias Kaushar.

As per news reports, ACB suspects that entries worth crores of rupees recorded in the diary were sent to Dubai through hawala.

Money trails of sending crores of rupees were also found in Uttarakhand, Bihar and Gujarat, about which Khan would be interrogated while in remand.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police has registered a case against supporters of AAP MLA for manhandling the ACB unit conducting investigation at the residence of Khan in Jamia Nagar on September 16.

Defending his MLA, AAP Chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal blamed BJP for conducting a witch-hunt against his party's leaders. He added that the BJP is rattled by AAP in Gujarat.