Mumbai: A day after the Prevention of Money Laundering Act court issued a non-bailable warrant against Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a charge sheet against his close aide Aamir Gazdar in cases of money laundering.
Judicial custody
The ED had arrested Aamir Abdul Mannan Gazdar on February 16, and he is in judicial custody.
The agency said investigations have revealed that Mr. Gazdar deals with contracts of marble viz. project of fixing marbles inclusive of supplying and providing labour and also in trading of marbles locally. The company has an annual turnover of ₹25-30 lakh. The agency also said that generation of huge revenues is possible only due to Mr. Gazdar.
Gazdar denies
Officials said Mr. Gazdar has been a close aide of Dr. Naik for a long time and is director in six companies owned by him including IRF, which has been declared unlawful by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Harmony TV channel. Mr. Gazdar, however, said he has no knowledge of this as Dr. Naik has been controlling all the activities.
A highly-placed source in ED said, “Dr. Naik’s sister was also investigated, but nothing much came out of it.”
