Day After Being Barred from Flying to UK, Rana Ayyub Moves Delhi HC Against ED

Rana Ayyub was stopped from boarding a flight to London after ED's summons in an alleged case of money laundering.

File image of journalist Rana Ayyub.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Rana Ayyub)

A day after she was stopped from flying to London by the Enforcement Directorate, journalist Rana Ayyub on Thursday, 31 March, moved the Delhi High Court against the agency's restrictions that bar her from leaving the country.

The matter was mentioned for an urgent hearing by Ayyub's counsel and is likely to be heard tomorrow, LiveLaw reported.

Ayyub, who was to fly to London on Wednesday to speak at the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), was stopped at the Mumbai airport from boarding the flight.

Taking to Twitter, Ayyub claimed that the ED's summon arrived in her inbox only after she was stopped from boarding her flight.

"I was stopped today at Mumbai immigration from travelling to deliver this address & onwards to @journalismfest to deliver d (the) 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," Ayyub tweeted.

The Case Against Rana Ayyub

Ayyub is being probed by the ED in a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Ghaziabad Police,

The case is based on an FIR from September 2021, which alleges irregularities in her funds and alludes to three crowdfunding campaigns initiated by her between April 2020-June 2021, facilitated by the virtual platform Ketto.

Ayyub has maintained that the allegations against her are false and that she had raised a total of Rs 2,69,44,679 (about 26.9 million) for which she has provided bills and invoices to the tune of Rs 40 lakh.

She also claimed to have donated Rs 74.50 lakh to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF) and to the PM-CARES Fund for relief work across India during the COVID-19 pandemic.