A special court on Saturday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan,accused of stashing away billions of dollars in overseas accounts,for three days even as he filed a fresh bail plea in the same court. ED told the court hearing Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases that it wanted to confront him with certain disclosures made by Congress leader Amlendu Pandey,Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh and one K C Singh. According to ED,Pandey and Singh have been questioned about Khan obtaining a fake passport from Patna passport office. Defence lawyer I P Bagadia said "we have consented to the ED's plea for questioning Khan." In another development,Khan filed a bail petition in the special court,keeping with the Bombay High Court order asking him to seek relief from the lower court. The HC had asked him on Friday to first approach the special court as per Supreme Court directives. Khan's petition,posted for hearing on May 4,contended that ED had stated in the remand papers that no case for money laundering had been made out against him and therefore he should be granted bail. The businessman is facing charge of depositing billions of dollars in foreign banks with the help of Kolkata-based businessman Kashinath Tapuriah. Pandey is suspected to have helped Khan in procuring the fake passport from Patna.
