Rana Ayyub on Tuesday said that she was stopped from leaving India by the immigration officials at the Mumbai airport. This was after the Enforcement Directorate reportedly issued a lookout notice against her. The ED had earlier attached her Rs. 1.77 crores in a money-laundering probe.
Ayyub took to Twitter to write, “I was stopped today at Mumbai immigration from travelling to deliver this address & onwards to @journalismfest to deliver d keynote speech on Indian democracy. I had made this announcement public over weeks, yet the ED summon very curiously arrived in my inbox after i was stopped.”
According to media reports, Ayyub had arrived at the Mumbai airport to leave for the United Kingdom when she was approached an ED team. She was reportedly told that the central probe agency wanted to record her statement in the ongoing money laundering case against her. The ED reportedly told Ayyub to appear before the agency in person for questioning on 1 April.
A report by Firstpost said that the ED had asked her to appear before it earlier after the agency attached over Rs 1.77 crore in bank deposits in a money laundering case. But she allegedly ignored the ED notice.
Ayyub was alleged to have collected public donations using the personal bank accounts of her sister and father. In an extraordinary confession, Ayyub had later confirmed making a contribution of Rs. 74.50 lakh to PM Cares and CM Relief Funds amidst probe. She had collected this money in donations on the pretext of helping poor.
In a statement released by her, Ayyub had also confessed to accepting crores of rupees through crowdfunding into bank accounts owned by her father and sister before routing that money into her account.
