In a press release dated 30th October 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made some shocking revelations about Amanatullah Khan – AAP leader and former Delhi Waqf Board chairman. Investigations have revealed that Amanatullah Khan siphoned lakhs that he collected as the Delhi Waqf Board Chairman chief after the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots of 2020, in the name of relief work for the victims.
The ED press release in this regard said, “ED investigation revealed that Amanatullah Khan, without taking any approval from the Delhi Waqf Board, floated “Delhi Waqf Board Relief Committee”. In order to solicit funds in the name of Delhi Riot Victims, Amanatullah Khan opened an unauthorized bank account in the name of Delhi Waqf Board Relief Committee and some of the funds obtained from the public were withdrawn in cash under the directions of Amanatullah Khan and were handed over to him”.
Interestingly, right after the Delhi Waqf Board Relief Committee was formed in 2020, Amanatullah Khan had purchased a Rs 19 lakh property in the name of his second wife Maryam Siddique, who is a full dependent and has no source of income. The payment for this was made partly in cash and partly from the amount received from his close associate Zeeshan Haider.
The ED press release also reveals that in his election affidavit, Amanatullah Khan had failed to disclose all the information. He had failed to reveal that Maryam Siddique, his second wife, was completely dependent and had no source of income.
On the 29th of October 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a Supplementary Prosecution
Complaint (PC) against Amanatullah Khan and Maryam Siddiqui under the provisions of Prevention
of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The prosecution and investigation are connected to the irregularities committed by Amanatullah Khan between 2016 and 2021 – when he was the Delhi Waqf Board chairman. The investigation found irregularities in the appointment of employees, misuse of official power as the chairman and irregularities in allotment of the tenancy of properties of Delhi Waqf Board without following proper procedure, and possession of assets disproportionate to his known
sources of income.
The investigation has revealed how Amanatullah Khan siphoned off crores from the Delhi Waqf Board. ED says that Amanatullah Khan was siphoning off money through his associates Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir. These associates made cash payments through one Kausar Imam Siddiqui. Through a handwritten notebook belonging to Kausar, it was revealed that Rs 27 crore worth of cash payments were made to buy a property at Tikona Park, Okhla via these associates and Kausar. The property had belonged to Jawed Imam Siddiqui.
“ED investigation revealed huge amounts of suspicious cash deposits in the bank accounts of seller Jawed Imam Siddiqui and his wife with regard to the sale of the said property at Tikona Park”, the press release said.
ED said, “During the course of the investigation, 14 summons were issued to Amanatullah Khan. However, he appeared in response to only one summon. Further, complaints under Section 174 of the IPC, 1860 and under Section 208 of BNS were filed by the ED against him before ACMM Rouse Avenue Court for non-compliance to the summon proceedings. In this case, ED has arrested Amanatullah Khan, Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir, Kausar Imam Siddiqui and Jawed Imam Siddiqui and all the accused persons are in Judicial Custody”.
Amanatullah Khan’s ‘relief work’ after Delhi anti-Hindu Riots 2020
Back in 2020 right after the Delhi anti-Hindu violence, the media was in an overdrive to show that the riots were orchestrated against Muslims. The relief camp set up by the Delhi government and its Waqf Board – chaired by Amanatullah Khan – was widely covered – with the media hailing the relief efforts by Amanatullah Khan. The ED investigation has now shown that Amanatullah Khan was siphoning off money from this relief pool.
On the 6th of March 2020, for example, India Today published a report about Amanatullah Khan’s relief efforts.
The report read that the relief work by the Waqf Board and Amanatullah would help repair properties “irrespective of faith”. The Waqf Board had apparently made a list of victims and shops vandalised in order to start the relief work and even released Rs 50 lakh towards it. The Waqf had also announced that it would repeat 19 mosques.
The India Today report read, “The Board has also set up a relief camp for riot victims in Mustafabad where over 1,000 people are being kept. Besides food and medical help, the camp also has help desks to provide legal aid and counselling to the affected people”.
Telegraph India spoke of how the relief camp was bringing a “healing touch”.
Interestingly, no media house which covered this alleged ‘relief work’ by Amanatullah Khan questioned his role in the riots.
In a statement to media, Khan, while defending AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, who is accused of murdering IB official Ankit Sharma, said, “It is as if only Tahir Hussain is responsible for Delhi riots. This is an attempt to save the rioters. Only Muslims are being made responsible for the riots.” He further added, “If there will be discrimination, if you are unfair towards Muslims and send them to jail, call them rioters, then in this country the riots will continue.”
He further claimed that a conspiracy is being hatched to shield culprits and project Hussain as main perpetrator. Earlier, Khan had taken to the micro-blogging site Twitter to say that being a Muslim in India is the biggest crime and that Hussain was being ‘targeted’ as he is a Muslim.
Khan, who is himself accused in myriad cases, most notably for inciting violence in Delhi on December 15, 2019, stoked fear among the Muslim population of the country by claiming that the central government is against the Muslims and the former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain is in jail because he is a Muslim.
Amanatullah Khan was also seen with Sharjeel Imam, the mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests who had urged Muslims to cut off North East India from the rest of the country. Sharjeel Imam is now rotting in prison. An FIR was also registered by Ghaziabad Police against Khan for inciting violence through his social media posts. It is also alleged that Khan made an inflammatory speech before violence broke out at Jamia Milia on the 15th of December.
