Journalist Rana Ayyub under money laundering scanner; ED attaches funds worth Rs 1.77 crore

The journalist, who is a columnist at US-based Washington Post, allegedly did not utilise the funds that she received to spend on three campaigns. She is accused of using the donations for her personal use.

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said that it has attached three bank accounts of Mumbai-based journalist Rana Ayyub in connection with a money laundering case. 

As per an official, the journalist, who is a columnist at US-based Washington Post, allegedly did not utilise the funds that she received to spend on three campaigns. She is accused of using the donations for her personal use. 

According to the ED, investigations conducted by the agency showed that the funds were raised in the name of charity in a completely pre-planned and systematic manner. The agency further said that the funds that were raised were not utilised completely for the purpose that they were intended for.

In 2021, an FIR was registered at the Indirapuram police station in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad over the misappropriation of funds. The ED took up the case under PMLA. The FIR claimed that the journalist had run three campaigns on the fund-raising website Ketto between April 2020 and June 2021. While one of the campaigns was meant to generate funds for slum dwellers and farmers, the other two were meant for relief work in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra and assisting Covid-19 impacted people in India.

The three accounts had Rs 1.77 crore, which have been attached. She also created a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh from the funds she had raised through Ketto for relief work.

In the investigation, it was found that the journalist had raised around Rs 2.7 crore through Ketto and the donations were routed to the bank accounts of her sister and father. Over Rs 72 lakh was withdrawn in her own bank account while more than Rs 37 lakh was withdrawn in her sister’s account and Rs 1.61 crore in her father's bank account. 

Later, her sister and father transferred those funds to Rana Ayyub's bank account. 

The probe also revealed that she submitted the proof of her expenditure totalling Rs 31.16 lakh while after due verification it was found the actual expense was amounting to Rs 17.67 lakh. It also disclosed that she had presented fake bills to claim expenses on relief work. She also deposited Rs 74.5 lakh in PM Cares fund and CM Relief fund.