SC for invoking terror charges against Hasan Ali Khan

New Delhi, Mar 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court in India on
Tuesday mulled invoking terror and other stringent penal
charges against Pune stud owner Hasan Ali Khan, accused of
massive money laundering and tax evasion, for his alleged
links with arm dealers and people linked to terror activities.
A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar
also asked the Indian Union government to examine if the case
registered against him for possessing fake passports could be
probed by the CBI.
The bench contemplated invoking terror charges under
anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and other
stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code owing to Khan's
alleged links with various arms dealers and those involved
with terror-related activities, threatening the country's
security.
The bench expressed displeasure that the probe against
Khan in the fake passport case had not proceeded in the right
direction with right speed "as nothing is moving despite the
magnitude of the issue."
The court made the observations and issued directions
while hearing a public interest litigation filed by eminent
jurist Ram Jethmalani, seeking repatriation of huge corpus of
black money stashed in banks abroad by unscrupulous Indian
citizens.
Khan was arrested last night by the Enforcement
Directorate which carried out searches at his Pune home and
that of his associates' premises in several cities, cracking
the whip to meet today's Supreme Court deadline.
53-year-old Ali, who was detained in Pune, was brought
to Mumbai (Indian western state) later and was grilled by the
ED for nearly six hours before being put under arrest.