Congress leader held in connection with ‘embezzlement’ of Rs 1.5 crore in Maharashtra

The accused is a former city Congress president

The Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Nagpur police on Sunday arrested a Congress leader in connection with alleged embezzlement of nearly Rs 1.5 crore in a shrine trust, an official said.

Sheikh Hussain Abdul Jabbar, who was the chairman of Taj Bagh Trust that manages the affairs of Hazrat Tajuddin Baba Dargah, has been accused of transferring Rs 1.5 crore to an account linked to his wife without the permission of the Charity Commissioner and not getting the books audited during his tenure, he said.

Jabbar, a former city Congress president, headed the trust between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2016.

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Other than Jabbar, his former secretary Iqbal Ismail Velji was also arrested in the case, the official said.

The arrests came on a complaint, lodged in September 2022, by Taj Ahmed Ali Ahmed Syed after he took over as the secretary of the trust.

The official said that Jabbar and his ex-secretary had applied for anticipatory bail in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court but did not get relief.

They then moved the Supreme Court which directed the two to appear before a local court.

The local court remanded the two in EoW custody till May 10, he said.

A few months ago, the BJP had accused Jabbar of making offensive remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Its office-bearers had submitted a complaint against Jabbar at the Sadar police station, demanding his arrest.