AAP’s Amanatullah Khan resigns from all posts citing pressure

Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Okhla Amanatullah Khan on Saturday wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and resigned from all posts. In his letter to Kejriwal, Amanatullah wrote: “I have been working wholeheartedly to serve people of Delhi. But some people are not liking my honesty and dedication. Therefore I would like to get relieved of all responsibilities party has given me, I resign from all posts.”

The Delhi Waqf Board Chairman is embroiled in an alleged recruitment scam in the Waqf Board where the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has launched a ‘preliminary inquiry’ against him. Khan termed the move as an “interference” in working of the body by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.

On Tuesday, Khan accused Congress leader Haroon Yusuf of “corruption and criminal misconduct” seeking an Anti- Corruption Branch inquiry against him. Yusuf served as the Waqf Board chairman from March 1999 to March 2004 before he was made the Power minister in the Sheila Dikshit government in 2005.

Khan alleged that Waqf Board’s driver Mohammad Rafiq continued to serve Yusuf even after he became a minister and the Board bore all his expenses, including salary.

“By illegal and unlawful taking over of the employee of Delhi Waqf Board in his personal service, Haroon Yusuf converted a valuable resource of the Waqf Board into his own personal use thereby causing wrongful gain to himself and loss to the Board,” Khan said in his complaint to the Delhi government’s Vigilance directorate.

“Conduct of Haroon Yusuf falls within the definition of corruption, criminal misconduct making him liable for action under Section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,” he said in the complaint. Yusuf rubbished the charges saying he had three drivers with him when he was a minister but he does not remember their exact details. He said, besides driving, the drivers also performed other duties such as carrying dispatches to different departments. “I don’t understand the charge by Khan. 

Personnel from different departments are normally used by non-parent departments in diverted capacity. Even at present, two drivers of the Delhi Waqf Board are working with other departments in diverted capacity,” Yusuf said.

Meanwhile, in another development, Amanatullah Khan’s sister-in-law has lodged a complaint against him alleging eve teasing at the Jamia police station in Delhi. According to a senior police official, the 32-year-old complainant approached the Jamia Nagar police station on Friday evening alleging that Amanatullah Khan pressurised her into building sexual relations with him.

“The woman in her complaint alleged that she was feeling traumatised and she was constantly being pressurised and forced by Khan to have physical relations with him,” said the police official. The woman further alleged that she was also traumatised by her husband and his family and was pressurised to give more dowry. 

“The woman alleged that she was also being pressurised by her husband to give sexual favours to Khan. She further accused her husband and his family of demanding dowry and traumatising her since a long time,” added the police official.

Following her complaint, a case under IPC Sections 354(A)(sexual harassment), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) has been registered against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and the woman’s husband and probe is on,” said the police official.