Delhi riots: ED books Tahir Hussain, PFI on money laundering charges

PTI Updated - December 06, 2021 at 03:08 PM.

Agency likely to seek custody of suspended AAP corporator

The Enforcement Directorate has booked suspended Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, Islamist group PFI and some others on charges of money laundering and alleged funding of last month’s communal riots in north-east Delhi, officials said on Wednesday.

They said the central probe agency has filed a criminal case against Hussain, facing charges of killing an Intelligence Bureau official during the riots, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Similar charges have been pressed against Popular Front of India (PFI), which is already facing a separate PMLA probe for allegedly fuelling protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in various parts of the country.

Taking cognisance of FIRs

There was no immediate comment from the PFI. The ED is expected to seek Hussain’s custody to question him in the case. He is in the custody of Delhi Police at present. The officials said the federal agency has taken cognisance of a clutch of FIRs filed by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch for alleged money laundering and routing of illegal funds by Hussain, the PFI and others to purportedly sponsor the communal riots which claimed 53 lives and injured over 200.

Hussain, an AAP corporator for ward number 59 under the Mustafabad assembly seat in Delhi, was booked by the police in the murder case of IB staffer Ankit Sharma in north-east Delhi amid the violence over the new citizenship law.

 

 

Published on March 11, 2020 06:17