Delhi riots: Court orders framing of charges against ex-Cong councillor Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi
New Delhi, Jan 20: A court here has ordered framing of charges, including those related to attempt to murder and unlawful assembly, against former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, 'United Against Hate' founder Khalid Saifi and 11 others in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case.
The court, however, discharged all 13 of offences of criminal conspiracy, abetment and common intention and charges under the Arms Act.
In an order passed on Friday, Special Judge Amitabh Rawat said, "... prima facie, there are grounds for presuming that accused persons have committed offences under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) 186 (obstructing public servant), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty)."
The judge also said that the accused were liable to face trial for offences under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC.
"All accused persons are discharged for the offences under IPC sections 34 (common intention), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 109 (abetment)," the court said, adding that they were also discharged of offences under the provisions of the Arms Act.
The court put the accused on trial, saying their role was "prima facie" established based on the contents of the charge sheet and statements of witnesses.
"It has come on record that on February 26, 2020, at about 12.15 pm, a riotous armed mob (unlawful assembly) including the accused persons in the prosecution of their common object had assembled and refused to follow the direction of police to disperse and thrown stones and assaulted police officers while obstructing them in performing their official duties and also fired a gunshot at head constable HC Yograj," the court said.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred at the Masjidwali Gali in the Khureji Khas area of northeast Delhi.
The court underlined that at the stage of framing the charges, only the "prima facie" case was to be considered and whether the case against the accused was beyond a reasonable doubt would be established after trial.
"Eye witness and victim HC Yograj (beat constable of the area) had specifically named all the 13 accused persons at the first available opportunity when he gave a statement to record the present FIR immediately after the incident," the court said.
It said the police official had "categorically identified" all the accused persons, who had formed an armed unlawful assembly and "on the instigation of Ishrat Jahan and Khalid Saifi", pelted stones at the police, while one juvenile from the mob fired at the head constable.
The court also noted the statements of three public witnesses and other police witnesses.
It noted the statement of a public witness, according to which, "Khalid and Ishrat were instigating the crowd and firing took place from the said crowd. Despite police request, Khalid and Ishrat did not move and were bent on pushing the police and they were abusing the police."
The Jagat Puri police station filed charge sheets against Ishrat Jahan, Khalid Saifi, Vikram Pratap, Samir Ansari, Mohammed Salim, Sabu Ansari, Iqbal Ahmed, Anzaar, Mohammed Ilyas, Mohammed Bilal Saif, Salim Ahmed, Mohammed Yameen and Sharif Khan.
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National Herald case: ED issues notices to take possession of assets in Cong-linked AJL
New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate Saturday said it has served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore that it had attached as part of a money laundering probe linked to Congress-controlled National Herald newspaper and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
The federal probe agency said in a statement that it has served the relevant documents to the respective registrar of properties where the assets are located.
Simultaneously, the notices have been affixed at "conspicuous part of these properties" located at Herald House at ITO (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, in the Bandra(E) area (Plot No 2, Survey No 341) of Mumbai and the AJL building located at Bisheshwar Nath Road (Property No.1) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday.
The notices primarily seek vacation of the premises to be taken over by the ED.
"A notice... has also been served to Jindal South West Projects Limited which occupies the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors at Herald House, Bandra (E), Mumbai, to transfer the rent/lease amount every month in favour of the director, Directorate of Enforcement," it said.
The action has been taken under Section (8) and Rule 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that talks about the procedure of taking possession of assets attached by the ED and then confirmed by the adjudicating authority (of the PMLA).
These immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore, apart from shares of AJL worth Rs 90.2 crore, were attached by the ED in November 2023 to "secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused form dissipating the same."
The Adjudicating Authority confirmed this order in April last year. According to the ED, the total "proceeds of crime" in the case was Rs 988 crore.
The Congress had earlier termed the investigation "petty vendetta tactics" and dubbed the ED a "coalition partner" of the BJP.
The ED investigation began in 2021 after the Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Courts in Delhi took cognisance of a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on June 26, 2014.
The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a "criminal conspiracy" by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi, her MP son Rahul Gandhi, apart from late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes and also Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and a private company Young Indian for alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over Rs 2,000 crore belonging to the AJL.
"The legal proceedings against the accused have faced challenges but have been upheld by both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, allowing the investigation to proceed," the ED said.
AJL is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and it is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.
Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years back.
The ED claimed its investigation has "conclusively" found that Young Indian, a private company "beneficially owned" by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, "acquired" AJL properties worth Rs 2,000 crore for a mere Rs 50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth.
"Young Indian and AJL properties were used for generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of Rs 18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of Rs 38 crore and bogus advertisements of Rs 29 crore," the ED has alleged.
