The Delhi High Court on Thursday, November 24, dismissed a petition filed by former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councilor Tahir Hussain seeking the quashing and setting aside of charges brought against him by the trial court in connection with the North East Delhi Riots 2020 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The order was pronounced by a single bench of Justice Anu Malhotra on Thursday after having reserved it on November 15.
On November 15, the court asked both lawyers to submit written submissions of no more than three pages in two days and reserved the order on Tahir Hussain’s plea against framing of charges against him in a money laundering case related to the northeast Delhi riots of 2020.
Court frames charges against AAP ex-counsilor in money laundering case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots
On Thursday, November 3, Delhi Court framed charges against former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain in the money laundering case related to the 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi riots, reports Live Law.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat filed charges against Tahir Hussain under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, which is punishable under Section 4.
The court has also denied statutory bail to Hussain in the case.
Notably, the court has taken cognisance of the matter in 2020 after the Enforcement Directorate had filed a complaint against Tahir Hussain under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 for the commission of the offence of money laundering.
In August 2020, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) released a statement informing about the arrest of radical Islamist and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
The investigation is being conducted by the ED under the PMLA on the basis of First Information Reports (FIRs) that have been filed by the Delhi Police, Crime Branch, and Dayalpur Police Station that had pressed charges against Tahir Hussain under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 385 (creating fear for extortion), which are cognizable offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Tahir Hussain transferred funds from his companies to fuel riots
The ED in its statement has revealed that Tahir Hussain had transferred large sums of money to fraudulent operators via companies that are either owned or controlled by him and his relatives. The operators had then returned the funds to him in cash, which was then utilised to fuel violence during the Anti-Hindu riots of Delhi in February this year. Moreover, a probe into his companies by the ED has unearthed money laundering scams by Hussain in the past.