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The Delhi High Court on Thursday turned down former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Tahir Hussain's petition that challenged a trial court's order on framing of charges in a money laundering case against him in connection with the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
The High Court refused to dismiss the trial court order framing charges against Hussain, a former AAP councillor, saying "there is no infirmity in the trial court order". Justice Anu Malhotra of Delhi High Court, hearing the plea, said: "The petition and the accompanying applications are declined." "... Hussain, prima facie, acted in conspiracy and engaged in money laundering with proceeds of crime having been put to use for riots," the High Court said. Justice Anu Malhotra also did not find any merit in the argument that "what Hussain was allegedly involved in can, at most, be considered a case of GST violation and therefore, punishable under enactment dealing with GST violation". Hussain is in the eye of storm for his role in money laundering and funding the anti-CAA protests and organising riots in northeast Delhi in February 2020. An ED official had earlier said that the case was registered based on multiple FIRs under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which are scheduled offences under the PMLA. The official had said that during the probe it was found that companies owned or controlled by Hussain and his relatives transferred huge amounts of money to dubious entities, which were returned by them in cash. "The cash received by Hussain was used to fuel the anti-CAA protests and Delhi riots. The probe also revealed the involvement of Hussain and his companies in the illegal laundering of money in the past too," the ED said in its chargesheet filed in October 2020. The ED had conducted searches at Hussain's and his family members' residential and business premises in Delhi, Noida and Greater Noida on June 23 which led to the recovery of incriminating documents and evidence, including fake invoices which were used for fraudulent transfer of money. Besides this, he is also the main accused in the case pertaining to "conspiracy" to incite violence. In February 2020, clashes between the CAA supporters and protesters had spiralled out of control, leaving 53 people dead and 748 injured. --IANS supriya/pgh ( 395 Words) 2022-11-24-21:22:03 (IANS)
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