Rana Ayyub Moves Delhi HC Against Travel Ban, Why Was She Stopped By ED?

Rana Ayyub ED Case: A well-known journalist and staunch critic of the Union government Rana Ayyub was stopped from flying to London at the Mumbai International Airport on Tuesday. She then approached the Delhi High Court to seek permission to travel and challenge the Enforcement Directorate lookout circular against her.

The journalist made an urgent listing of her case before the division bench of the High Court led by Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi. The judge said that the matter will be listed for the Friday hearing if the case is listed before noon.

Ayyub tweeted on Tuesday, "I was stopped today at the Indian immigration while I was about to board my flight to London to deliver my speech on the intimidation of journalists with @ICFJ (International Center for Journalists). I was to travel to Italy right after to deliver the keynote address at the @journalismfest on Indian democracy."

The journalist alleged that the summon for questioning came at the eleventh hour when the announcement of the media event was already made weeks ago.

An FIR was filed against Ayyub in 2021 by the Uttar Pradesh police which alleged that she collected donations through the Ketto platform but diverted the funds later. The Enforcement Directorate then acting on the FIR, came out with Rs 1.77 crore bank deposits belonging to Rana Ayyub. The probe agency has issued a look out notice against the journalist and charged her in a money laundering case.

What is a lookout notice?

The agency issues the notice against persons accused in a case under investigation. After a lookout notice is issued, the air, land and sea border security are alerted to stop the person from leaving the country. That is what happened at the Mumbai International Airport when Ayyub was stopped from leaving for London.

What is ED's Case Against Rana Ayyub?

• Rana Ayyub has been summoned by the ED for questioning on April 1. The journalist is being investigated in a money laundry case which involves a deposit of Rs 1.77 crore in her name.
• The case was filed after an FIR by the Uttar Pradesh police in 2021. The FIR alleged that the journalist took money as donations through Ketto platform and then diverted it.
• The probe agency has alleged that Ayyub collected crores from the online crowdfunding platform through three campaigns.
• One was funds for slum dwellers during April-May 2020, another on Bihar, Maharashtra and Assam relief work during June-September the same year and the third one during May-June 2020 to help people impacted by COVID-19.
• The ED has alleged that the journalist raised donations worth Rs 2.69 crores and Rs 80.49 lakh of this amount was received in foreign currency.
• The journalist returned the foreign currency amount when the Income Tax Department started an investigation against her for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA), ED said.
• As per reports, Rana Ayyub told the probe agency that she spent Rs 60 to 70 lakh for relief work but the ED alleged that after checking her bank statement and credit card expenditure, they found only Rs 28 lakh was spent on relief work.

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• The agency alleged that part of the money received by Ayyub was used for personal expenses which allegedly included a vacation as well.
• The journalist reportedly told the agency that a bank manager advised her to make a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh from the donation money so that she could get some interest on the money she wanted to use for building a hospital. As per reports, the bank manager allegedly denied giving her any such advice.
• The agency has also said that the journalist failed to explain why she did not use the donation money and where she made certain expenditures.
• The ED also suspects that Rs 74 lakh donated by the journalist to the PM Cares and Chief Minister relief funds was an "afterthought". Allegedly, Ayyub transferred that sum 20 days after the Income Tax Department and the ED started their investigation against Ayyub.
• The agency in its statement said, "The direct donations to the PM Care/CM Relief Funds could also be done by the individual donors instead of donating to the campaigns launched by Rana Ayyub. It is clear that the donors had donated funds for the specific campaigns launched by Rana Ayyub but she did not use those funds for the specific purpose and kept idles in her bank accounts and in the bank account of her father.”
• The ED alleged that Ayyub tried to "project the funds (proceeds of crime in this case) as untainted by receiving the funds in the bank account wherein her professional earnings was (sic) also being received." She is also accused of cheating the general public donor.
• A sum of Rs Rs 2,69,44,679 was first received by Ayyub's father and her sister but the amount was then transferred to Ayyub's account so that she could use it for relief work, the journalist reportedly told the agency. As per reports, a document on expenses of Rs 31,16,970 submitted were Ayyub were allegedly found to be fake.
• Rana Ayyub has called the FIR against her baseless and has claimed that "entire donation received through Ketto is accounted for and not a single paisa has been misused." The journalist said that she is being asked by the ED Delhi to submit certain documents which she has already submitted to the Mumbai ED. "But they keep asking me to get them. I have written several emails to Mumbai ED for the same but have got no response, " she added.