JAWED IMAM SIDDIQUI Vs. DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of present bail application, the petitioner/applicant seeks regular bail in the proceedings emanating out of ECIR/35/DLZO/I/2022 dtd. 16/9/2022 which was registered on the basis of the FIR bearing No. 9A dtd. 23/11/2016 registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (hereafter, the CBI), AC-III, New Delhi under Ss. 120-B of IPC and 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of PC Act, 1988.

(2.) The allegations made in the aforesaid FIR, in nutshell, are that Mr. Amanatullah Khan, i.e. the main accused, in his tenure as chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board (hereafter, the 'DWB'), misused his position from March 2016 - October 2016 to appoint and engage relatives and other known persons to various posts in the DWB, from which they derived pecuniary benefits. It was further alleged that the tenancies of DWF properties were allotted without inviting bids and leased out only on reserve price. There were also allegations of misuse of DWB funds.

(3.) In the ECIR, apart from the abovementioned FIR, three more FIRs registered subsequently, have also been clubbed. As per ED's case, the main accused, who had acquired huge cash amounts being the proceeds of crime arising out of his involvement in illegal recruitment in DWB, in order to launder the same, invested the proceeds of crime in immovable properties through his associates, namely, Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and others by concealing and suppressing their actual value by showing false amounts in the sale deeds which were very nominal in comparison to their actual sale value. It is alleged that these actively concealed amounts that were paid in cash to the applicant being the seller of one of the immovable properties are nothing but the proceeds of crime acquired by the main accused vide his involvement in the scheduled offence.