The Enforcement Directorate, which is the Central Economic Intelligence Agency that operates under the Union Ministry of Finance, has, on Thursday, booked a money laundering case against Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi, who is the chief of Delhi based Tablighi Jamaat. The case has been filed against him and other members of the religious movement, which organized the conference in March that later emerged as the national epicenter for the spread of Coronavirus.
According to the reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has levied new trouble for the outfit days after the Delhi police had registered a case against Saad under the sections of the Epidemic Disease Act. The ED has booked the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against the religious leader on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Central agency will now initiate a probe against the funds obtained by Maulana Saad towards organizing the conference and congregations. The reports stated that the agency would audit and scrutinize the bank account details and other financial transactions from the overseas bank accounts held by the chief as part of the probe following which he would be called for the investigations. The Income Tax department has been studying the source of the funds received by the outfit.
The agency has been probing the account details of Saad and other members to examine the grounds of the tax evasion as the outfit hasn't registered. The movement had organized a conference in mid-March that was attended by over two thousand people from India and other countries. The conference was organized in Delhi amid the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.
On March 31st, after clearing the Markaz building, which hosted the event, in Nizamuddin, Delhi, by evacuating 1,600 people from the venue, the Delhi Police, which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Saad and other members under sections of Epidemic Disease Act.
The case has been filed under sections 269, 270, 271, and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for violating the directions issued by the government which had imposed a ban on social, religious, and political gatherings in the wake of the outbreak. On Wednesday, the Delhi police had brought Saad under the grounds of culpable homicide which is as equal as to the grounds of second-degree murder.
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