Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court, expressed doubt as to whether the court had the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Khan, who was arrested by the ED on Monday midnight under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, was produced before the court of the principal sessions court judge M L Tahaliyani on Tuesday afternoon.
As soon as the proceedings began, Tahaliyani raised the issue of jurisdiction, saying the matter should have been brought before a magistrate. Public prosecutor N Punde said under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, a special court was empowered to conduct the proceedings and hence he had the jurisdiction.
Defence counsel I P Bagadia too concurred with the view, but the principal judge adjourned the hearing till Wednesday after handing over Khan’s remand to the ED. He will take a view on the issue of jurisdiction to hear the case.
Hasan Ali’s is allegedly one of the biggest tax evasion cases in the country. In 2007, Income-Tax officials had raided his home and found evidence indicating transactions by him in Swiss bank accounts. The ED was pulled into the picture and the agency sent an official to Switzerland with a letter regatory to collect details. However, the Swiss authorities did not entertain the official for want of “dual criminality” (as tax evasion is not considered a criminal offence in Switzerland).
Based on the evidence found, the I-T Department had made a demand of Rs 50,000 crore on Hasan Ali, and this is still pending in appeal at the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal.
The whole case came to the fore when the Supreme Court, on hearing a Public Interest Litigation on black money, asked why the Hasan Ali case was not being pursued vigorously.