On Friday, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was arrested by the Delhi Police Anti-Corruption Branch.
AAP, MLA Amanatullah Khan detained
On Friday, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was taken into custody by the Delhi Police Anti-Corruption Branch. Amanatullah Khan was interrogated after “incriminating material and evidence against him” was unearthed during today’s searches.
Amanatullah Khan was arrested by police following raids in connection with recruitment irregularities at the Delhi Waqf Board.
According to the police statement, “Amanatullah Khan, the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, is accused of unlawfully renting out a number of Delhi Waqf Board properties, with allegations of corruption and favoritism.
It is also claimed that he misappropriated funds from the Delhi Waqf Board, which included grants from the Delhi government.”
Amanatullah Khan is an Indian politician who represents the capital of Delhi in the state legislature. He is the Aam Aadmi Party representative for the Okhla (Assembly constituency) in Delhi’s Sixth Legislative Assembly. In 2020’s November, Khan was chosen as the new chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board.
He ran in the 2015 election for the Delhi Assembly and was successful, earning him a seat in the Sixth Delhi Assembly.
Who is Amanatullah Khan?
On July 20th, 2016, a woman complained to the media about her experience with the energy supply in her area, and said that she had been threatened by Khan’s fans. The victim went to the Jamia Nagar Police station in South Delhi to report Khan for allegedly threatening behaviour.
In a press conference he conducted on July 23rd, Khan claimed that the woman was “pressured” by police into making a false statement against him. Khan, when asked about the event, stated he was in Meerut on July 9 and 10 and that his kids were on vacation in Kashmir. The Delhi Police took Khan into prison the following day, on July 24, 2016. Since Khan was no longer needed in the inquiry, he was granted bail on July 28th, 2016.
According to a video and transcript obtained by the Aam Aadmi Party, the woman who filed the complaint was asked by the SHO of the Jamia Nagar police station to include charges of threats against her life in the FIR. The Aam Aadmi Party has claimed that the Delhi Police have falsely accused other other AAP MLAs, including Khan.
When members of the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aami Party battled in the Jamia Nagar neighbourhood prior to local municipal elections on 18 April 2017, Khan claimed that Indian National Congress members had shot pistols at him in the presence of police. Two members of Congress charged Khan with assault on January 28.
Anshu Prakash, the chief secretary of Delhi, filed a case of assault against Khan and another lawmaker, Prakash Jarwal, on February 20. In 2021, a Delhi court acquitted Kejriwal and ten AAP MLAs of all charges in an assault case filed by a bureaucrat in Delhi. The judge said that there was “no prima facie case” against them.
In the 2020 elections for the Delhi Legislative Assembly, he won by a margin of 71,664 votes over BJP’s Braham Singh. He was elected in 2020 and has been serving as a legislator in Delhi’s 7th Assembly since since. This is his second term as a member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Issue of memorandum against unauthorized recruitment
Following the arrest of the AAP MLA, the ACP of the Anti-Corruption Bureau indicated, “The then CEO of the Delhi Waqf Board had clearly given a statement and issued a memorandum against such unauthorized recruitment.”
Further accusations
The statement went on to explain, “It is alleged that Amanatullah Khan, as chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, illegally rented out a number of Delhi Waqf Board properties, with allegations of corruption and favoritism.”
Furthermore, he is also accused of misappropriating funds from the Delhi Waqf Board, which included grants in aid from the Delhi government.
On Friday, ACB agents searched four locations in Delhi. During the searches, approximately Rs 24 lakh in cash was recovered, as well as two illegal and unlicensed weapons, cartridges, and ammunition.
According to the statement by the police, “Amanatullah Khan has been detained according to case FIR No. 05/2020 of PS ACB, GNCT of Delhi based on the questioning of Amanatullah Khan and the recovery of incriminating material and evidence against him and the recovery during the searches conducted on September 16.”
Published By Sandipan Dutta
