Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 7: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by journalist Rana Ayyub contesting the legitimacy of the Ghaziabad court’s decision to initiate a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against her.
A Bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and JB Pardiwalastated in its order,
“We have said under Section 3 PMLA, the place where any of the six activities are carried out.. is the place where offence of money laundering takes place. The question as to which is the place is a question of fact decided on evidence. We leave it open to raise this issue before trial court. We are dismissing this petition.”
Last week, the Supreme Court had put off making a decision about the journalist’s request.
A trial court in Ghaziabad issued a summons to Ayyub in connection with a complaint lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Based on a First Information Report (FIR) filed against Ayyub in September 2021 by the Indirapuram Police Station in Ghaziabad under the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Amendment Act, and the Black Money Act, the ED launched a money laundering investigation.
The FIR claimed that she ran fundraising campaigns on the web platform Ketto in order to solicit money from the public illegally under the guise of charity.
Additionally, it was claimed that Ayyub collected contributions from abroad without adhering to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The ED claims that an inquiry showed Ayyub started three fundraising initiatives and raised a total of 2.69 crore.
