HC notice to Centre, ED on meat exporter’s plea against arrest

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea of meat exporter Moin Akhtar Qureshi challenging his arrest in connection with a money laundering case.

A bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul sought a response from the central government and the ED and posted the matter for further hearing on September 13.

Qureshi was arrested on August 25 by the Enforce Directorate in a case which the agency had registered in 2016 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for alleged illegal forex dealings and tax evasion.

According to the financial crimes probe agency, Qureshi was being investigated for allegedly remitting funds through hawala channels to Dubai, London and a few other destinations in Europe.

The ED said that during the course of investigation, certain facts had emerged that constituted omission and commission of certain acts on the part of certain public servants holding high offices in collusion with Qureshi, whereby massive illegal money transactions were carried out.

The agency also said that the records collected from the Income Tax Department had revealed that Qureshi took huge money from different persons for obtaining "undue favours from public servants" after exercising his personal influence.

Qureshi, who is in Enforcement Directorate's custody, said pleaded he had been illegally detained by the agency. He told the court that the ED had arrested him directly when he was called for questioning and was not informed about the grounds of arrest.

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