Tahir Hussain being taken to Karkardooma court on March 6

Tahir Hussain Hussain is presently in the custody of Delhi Police

The Enforcement Directorate has booked suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and PFI on charges of money laundering and alleged funding of the recent riots in Delhi, officials said on Wednesday.

A case against Tahir Hussain, who is under arrest in Delhi riots and a murder case, has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the probe agency. Tahir Hussain is expected to be arrested by the ED once his police custody is over. Hussain is in the custody of Delhi Police at present.

Similar charges have also been pressed against the Popular Front of India (PFI) which is already facing a separate PMLA probe.

The officials said the ED has taken cognisance of FIRs filed by Delhi Police's Crime Branch to probe the alleged money laundering and routing of illegal funds by Hussain, PFI and others to purportedly sponsor riots that killed over 50 people in Delhi.

Sources have said the ED will also be looking into the source of income which Tahir Hussain allegedly received for the 'inciting' violence in Delhi.

Tahir was arrested last week after he surrendered himself before the court.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that a building belonging to Tahir Hussain in Khajuri area of northeast Delhi was used for stone-pelting and hurling petrol bombs during violence in northeast part of the national capital. Recently, a team of Delhi Police collected evidence from the building owned by Tahir Hussain. Sources said that the team also recovered evidence in connection with the IB staffer's death.

Tahir Hussain, however, has denied all the allegations and claimed that he had reached out to the police twice that day to save his life during the violence.