A bench expressed annoyance over the tardy progress in the fake passport case against Khan and asked the government whether the case could be handed over to the CBI.
Sending a tough message across on the issue of black money, the Supreme Court on Tuesday contemplated the possibility of slapping terror charges against Hasan Ali Khan, Pune-based businessman and allegedly one of the country’s biggest tax evaders.
Khan, who is facing a Rs70,000 crore demand notice from the Income Tax department, was arrested by enforcement directorate (ED) officials in Mumbai late on Monday night after six hours of grilling. He was produced before a city court on Tuesday which remanded him in ED’s custody for a day.
In the Supreme Court, the bench of Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar also expressed annoyance over the tardy progress in the fake passport case against Khan and asked the government whether the case could be handed over to the CBI.
“Nothing is moving despite the magnitude of the issue,” it said. Khan has been found in possession of multiple passports.
Observing that Khan was allegedly linked to arms dealers and those related to terror activities, the bench sought to know whether the matter could be probed under provisions other than the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Passport Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema).
“On the basis of the information collected by ED it seems there is an angle of arms terrorism and national security,’’ the court said, asking why provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act could not be invoked against Hasan Ali.
The court was hearing a petition filed by eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani seeking repatriation of huge corpus of black money stashed in banks abroad by unscrupulous Indian citizens.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the court, Khan said he was “innocent”. “I am innocent... They are just putting me in trouble. I don’t understand why,” he said.
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