Mumbai: In the wake of a ‘lookout circular issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against journalist Rana Ayub, he was on Tuesday stopped from leaving abroad by the authorities at the Mumbai International Airport. Officials gave this information. The central probe agency wants to interrogate Ayub (37) and record his statement in a money laundering case against him.
Officials said the journalists arrived at the Mumbai International Airport to board a flight to London but were stopped by immigration officials. Soon after, an ED team questioned him at the airport and asked him to join the investigation. Ayub is understood to have been asked to appear in the ED’s office on April 1. Officials said the ED had also issued summons to him in the past.
The agency had provisionally forfeited over Rs 1.77 crore of his deposits in the bank earlier this year. The action was taken against Ayub in connection with a case related to alleged irregularities in the contribution received by him in 2020-21 from donors for COVID-19 relief.
However, officials said Ayub did not comply with the notice and the agency does not want him to leave the country as it may delay the investigation and subsequent filing of the charge sheet in court. Ayub has tweeted about the incident. “I was stopped at Indian immigration today when I was about to board my flight to London to deliver my speech at the ICFJ on the topic of intimidation of journalists,” she said in a series of tweets. After this, I was scheduled to go to Italy to address the Journalism Fest on Indian Democracy.
