The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued a notice to Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan in response to a plea by the Enforcement Directorate challenging the trial court’s decision to release him in a money-laundering case, Bar and Bench reported.

Justice Vikas Mahajan ordered the trial court to defer proceedings in the matter. The High Court will hear the matter next on March 21.

Khan, the MLA from Delhi’s Okhla constituency, was arrested in the case by the Enforcement Directorate in September.

The case against Khan is based on two first information reports.

The first FIR concerns alleged irregularities in appointments to the Delhi Waqf Board and the alleged misappropriation of its funds during Khan’s chairmanship between 2016 and 2021.

The second FIR is related to an alleged disproportionate assets case.

In October, the Enforcement Directorate filed a supplementary complaint accusing Khan of laundering money linked to corruption in the Waqf Board.

On November 14, a special Delhi court ordered the release of Khan citing the lack of a sanction to prosecute him. The court had also declined to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the central law enforcement agency.

The Enforcement Directorate challenged this order in the High Court.

During the hearing on Thursday, the central agency argued that cognisance had already been taken in the main case. The agency’s counsel said that a prima facie offense by Khan had been established and that the lack of sanction was a curable defect.

The sanction had been obtained for the predicate offense, the counsel added.

The agency also argued that the trial court judge had overlooked the fact that there was a sanction for the predicate offense, which could be presented.

The Enforcement Directorate contended that the sanction was not needed because Khan’s actions that are under investigation were not part of his official duties.

Anticipatory bail in separate case

The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday granted Khan protection from coercive action by the Delhi Police till February 24 in a separate case, ANI reported.

The court ordered Khan to join the investigation and directed the police to interrogate the Aam Aadmi Party legislator under the security camera surveillance.

Earlier in the day, Khan had filed a plea for anticipatory bail in a case pertaining to alleged blocking of a police team that was trying to arrest a man in an attempt to murder case.

He was booked on Monday under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to obstructing a public servant, using criminal force against a public servant and voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servants from doing their duty.

The plea by Khan seeking anticipatory bail came after the police conducted searches at several locations to arrest Khan.

The AAP leader denied the police’s claim that he was absconding and said that he was being framed in the matter.