Ghaziabad special court asked by SC to adjourn proceedings till Jan 31 in ED case against Rana Ayyub

New Delhi: The Supreme Court ordered a special PMLA court in Ghaziabad, which has journalist Rana Ayyub on summons in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to postpone the January 27 proceedings to a day after January 31.

The plea filed by Rana Ayyub contesting the summons she received from the special court will be heard by the top court on January 31.

“List on January 31. In the meantime, the Ghaziabad special court is requested to adjourn the proceedings…fixed for January 27 to a date after January 31,” said a bench of Justices Krishna Murari and V Ramasubramanian.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Ayyub, told the bench that the petitioner has been summoned for January 27 by the special court in Ghaziabad.

The top court said this order is being passed because the hearing on Ayyub’s plea could not be concluded before it on Wednesday due to paucity of time.

In her writ petition, Ayyub has sought quashing of the proceedings initiated by the ED in Ghaziabad citing lack of jurisdiction as the alleged offence of money laundering occurred in Mumbai.

On November 29 last year, the special PMLA court in Ghaziabad had taken cognizance of the prosecution complaint filed by the ED and summoned Ayyub.

The ED charge sheet was filed under section 45 read with section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

“I have perused the above-mentioned prosecution complaint and have also gone through the prosecution papers as well as documents including statements.

“From the perusal of the entire record there is sufficient evidence as to a prima facie case for taking cognizance against Ms Rana Ayyub with regard to the commission of the offence,” the special court judge had said.

The special court had said that Ayyub’s alleged crime involves taking money illegally from the general public in the name of charity via Ketto — an online crowdfunding platform — in three campaigns without any approval, raising a huge sum in the bank account of her sister and father, and transferring it into her own bank account which was not used for the intended purpose.

On October 12 last year, the ED filed a charge sheet against Ayyub, accusing her of cheating the public and using Rs 2.69 crore she got in charity for creating personal assets, and also violating the foreign contribution law.

“Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser charity campaigns on the ‘Ketto platform’ starting from April 2020 and collected funds totalling Rs 2,69,44,680,” the ED had said in a statement.

The campaigns, it had claimed, were meant to raise funds for slum dwellers and farmers, relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra, and help Ayyub and her team help those impacted by COVID-19 in India.

“Ayyub utilised these funds to create a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh for herself and also transferred Rs 50 lakh to a new bank account. Investigations found that only about Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work,” the ED had claimed.

“In order to claim more expenses towards relief work, fake bills were submitted by Ayyub and subsequently, bank balances in the accounts of Ayyub amounting to Rs 1,77,27,704 (including FD of Rs 50 Lakh) were attached under the PMLA vide a provisional attachment order dated February 4, 2022,” it had said.

The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered on September 7, 2021, by the Indirapuram Police Station of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh under various sections of the IPC, Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, and Black Money Act against Ayyub.

It also alleged that Ayyub received foreign contributions without registration under FCRA.

On August 17 last year, the Delhi High Court restrained the ED from proceeding further with the provisional attachment of funds in connection with the probe against her.

On April 4 last year, the Delhi High Court allowed Ayyub to travel abroad and questioned the ED over a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against her barring her from travelling abroad.

Ayyub was stopped by the ED from taking a flight to London from the Mumbai airport in March under the “Look Out Circular” issued against her.

With PTI inputs