Supreme Court to hear on January 25 Rana Ayyub plea against Ghaziabad court summons in PMLA case

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will hear on January 25 the plea by journalist Rana Ayyub against an order of a Ghaziabad court which has summoned her on January 27 in relation to a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case. .The matter was mentioned today by advocate Vrinda Grover before Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. "Summoning order is of January 27. Can you please list this at 2 pm," the CJI asked."We will keep this day after tomorrow before an appropriate bench. Today will be difficult," the CJI replied.The matter was earlier slated to be heard today by a bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and JB Pardiwala but the sitting of this bench was cancelled, prompting Grover to mention the case..Ayyub has been 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 cognizance against her."Accused be summoned for 13.12.2022. Summon be issued," the court had thus ordered.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."Investigation by ED further revealed that Ms. Rana Ayyub illegally raised Rs. 2.69 Crore by launching three online campaigns in the name of charity by cheating the general public donors. These funds were not used for the intended purpose, instead used for creation of assets for herself," an ED press release stated..In August last 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.In April, the High Court had also allowed her to travel abroad after the ED prevented her from leaving the country by issuing a Look Out Circular (LOC) in relation to this case.