Ayyub was summoned by a trial court in Ghaziabad in relation to a prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
On November 29, Special Judge Vatsal Srivastava had held that on going through the entire record, there was sufficient evidence of a prima facie case for taking cognisance against her.
Ayyub moved the apex court contending that the UP court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter since the complaint arose in Mumbai and the Delhi Zonal Office of ED was investigating the matter. The Supreme Court gad on Wednesday ordered the special court in Ghaziabad to defer the hearing in the money-laundering case to any day after January 31.
The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered in September 2021 by the Indirapuram Police Station in Ghaziabad under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Amendment Act and Black Money Act against Ayyub.
The FIR alleged that she illegally acquired funds from the general public in the name of charity by launching fundraiser campaigns on online crowd funding platform Ketto.
It was also alleged that Ayyub received foreign contributions without registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
According to the ED, investigation revealed that Ayyub launched three fundraiser campaigns and collected funds totalling ₹2.69 crore.
These included:
1. Raising funds for slum-dwellers & farmers;
2. Funds for relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra;
3. Funds to help those impacted by COVID-19 in India.
The ED stated that the funds raised were received in her father and sister’s accounts, and were subsequently transferred to her personal accounts. Further, she allegedly utilised these funds to create a fixed deposit of ₹50 lakh for herself and transferred another ₹50 lakh to a new bank account.
The investigation was also stated to have revealed that only about ₹29 lakh was used for relief work. Subsequently, a bank balance of ₹1.7 crore was attached by the agency on February 4, 2022.
In April 2022, the High Court had allowed Ayyub to travel abroad after the ED prevented her from leaving the country by issuing a Look Out Circular (LOC) in relation to this case.
In August that year, the Delhi High Court had restrained the ED from taking any further steps against Ayyub under Section 8 of the PMLA in relation to these properties attached by the investigating agency.
Source: Barandbench
