CBI, ED register criminal case against Hasan Ali Khan

Stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan has been booked by the CBI and the ED for corruption and money laundering allegations respectively in separate cases, six years after he came under scanner for purported tax evasion.

The CBI sources said the agency has registered a case against Khan and unknown officials for alleged criminal conspiracy and corruption.

The action has been taken on the basis of a complaint received from tax authorities, they said.

The sources refused to give any further details as it may affect their probe.

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a fresh case of money laundering against Khan, six years after he was booked in a case by it for generation of black money.

Officials said the agency has filed a fresh FIR, called the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in ED's  parlance, recently and has named "Khan and certain unknown government officials and politicians" in it.

The fresh FIR by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Khan, touted to be one of the highest tax evaders of the country, is significant as sources said some "fresh evidence has been found" by investigators which includes sensitive information received from foreign shores.

The new complaint against Khan comes after about six years as he was first booked by the ED in 2011 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and had been arrested too.

Officials indicated that while the first ED complaint did not name any government official or politician associated with Khan (62), but ED's probe has now thrown some light on these  contacts.

The role of certain I-T department officials who probed  this case is also under the scanner of the agency, they said.

It is expected that the agency could launch fresh action of searches and questioning in this case, which has been  talked about as one of the most important black money cases of the country.

The Khan case is the only one listed by name in the terms of reference of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money that was constituted by the government in 2014 on the  directions of the Supreme Court.

The agency, after many years, had swooped down on the premises of Khan and his relatives in Pune and Mumbai in  February last year and had seized Rs 26.30 lakh cash and some "vital" computer hardware and hard drives.

He was also questioned by a top level team of ED and CBI  officials last year after this action.

Khan was released on bail in August 2015 after he was in ED custody for many years.
Khan came under the scrutiny from multiple agencies including the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police in 2007 which had been probing him and his associates for charges of money laundering, income tax evasion and violations of the  Passport Act.

He was slapped with an Income Tax notice demanding taxes  over Rs 50,000 crore and it was claimed to be the biggest  individual case of black money stashed abroad and also that of the highest tax evasion by an individual in the country.

However, an order by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) last year had pegged his tax liability at about Rs 75  crore.

The ED had also attached few immovable assets of Khan  under PMLA as part of its probe against him, his wife Rheema  and others.