The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday filed a prosecution complaint—equivalent to a charge sheet—against journalist Rana Ayyub in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in funds collected by her for relief work.
The ED case is based on an FIR by the Uttar Pradesh Police last year where it was alleged that Ayyub collected huge funds through Ketto, an online crowdfunding platform, in the name of relief work but diverted the funds.
In February, the agency had attached bank deposits to the tune of Rs 1.77 crore belonging to Ayyub in connection with the case. She had also been prevented from flying abroad in March based on a lookout circular issued by ED.
“Investigations conducted by Directorate of Enforcement make it abundantly clear that the funds were raised in the name of charity in a completely pre-planned and systematic manner and the funds were not utilized completely for the purpose of which the funds were raised,” the ED had said in a statement then.
According to ED, its investigations disclosed that instead of utilising the funds for the relief work, Ayyub parked some of it by opening a separate current bank account. “Ms. Rana Ayyub also created a Fixed Deposit of Rs. 50 Lakh from the funds raised on Ketto and subsequently did not utilize these for relief works. She deposited a total of Rs 74.50 lakhs in PM Cares fund and CM Relief Fund,” the ED said in a statement.
“Accordingly, at the stage of the investigation, the proceeds of crime are quantified as Rs.1,77,27,704/- and the interest generated upon the said FD of Rs. 50 Lakh,” the statement added.
The money attached by ED is in the form of bank deposits in three different bank accounts.
The UP police FIR against Ayyub was registered in September last year at the Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad based on a complaint by Vikas Sankrityayan. Apart from sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and of the IT Act, the police had also invoked Section 4 of the Black Money Act alleging she had illegally acquired money from the general public in the name of charity.
According to ED, the FIR discloses that Ayyub raised huge amounts running into crores of rupees via Ketto in three campaigns—funds for slum dwellers and farmers during April- May 2020; relief work for Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra from June to September 2020, and help for Covid-19 impacted people in India during May-June 2021.
“Funds totalling to Rs. 2,69,44,680/-were raised on Ketto by Rana Ayyub. These funds were withdrawn from the bank accounts of her sister/father. Out of this amount, Rs.72,01,786/- was withdrawn in her own bank account, Rs. 37,15,072/- was withdrawn in her sister Iffat Shaikh’s account and Rs 1,60,27,822/- was withdrawn in her father Mohd Ayyub Waquif’s bank account. All these funds from her sister’s and father’s accounts were subsequently transferred to her own account,” the ED statement said.
