Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA, Amanatullah Khan who was detained in connection with alleged irregularities involving the Delhi Waqf Board, was sentenced to four days in police prison by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Saturday, September 17.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) requested 14-day detention for Khan after claiming to have received Rs 4 crore in “ill-gotten money.” However, the judge only granted ACB custody for four days.
Khan would need to be in ACB’s custody in order for the organisation to “confront him (about) how he acquired this money),” according to additional public prosecutor Atul Kumar Shrivastava, who represented ACB in court.
Shrivastava disclosed that ACB had made use of a dairy that investigators had reportedly obtained from Khan and which purportedly contained multiple financial transactions attesting to the receipt of “ill-gotten money.” He cited an entry, in particular, noting that transactions had also been noted in Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, and Uttrakhand and that Khan had received Rs 4 crore in cash.
A complaint was filed against Khan in 2016 at the request of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Headquarters), Revenue department, who claimed that Khan’s appointments to various positions in the Waqf Board, both current and vacant, were “arbitrary and illegitimate.”
In accordance with Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (which deals with public officials accepting bribes and requires a demand for illegal gratification and its acceptance) and Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (criminal conspiracy), the ACB filed a first information report (FIR) in January 2020.
“Mr. Amanatullah Khan while working as Chairman of Delhi Waqf Board illegally recruited 32 persons violating all norms and Govt. guidelines and with allegations of corruption and favouritism. The then CEO of Delhi Waqf Board had clearly given statement and issued memorandum against such illegal recruitment,” ACB said in a press release issued on Friday, September 16, when Khan was arrested after daylong raids on properties linked to him.
