New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday rejected two pleas of Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui, the chairperson of the Al Falah group, who wanted to place his own business records in court and wanted Enforcement Directorate to give the defence the list of documents it was not relying on to frame the case.In legal proceedings, agencies often present certain documents in court to bolster a case. These are the relied documents,. The ones that the agency does not present in court are called the unrelied documents. The lists of both are presented in court.Siddiqui faces a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for an amount of Rs 415 crore. His institute group is also accused of harbouring those charged in last Nov’s Red Fort blast.His trial is at the pre-cognisance stage, when the court is yet to take cognisance of the charges filed against him. Additional sessions judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan said that at the pre-cognisance stage, the court can examine only the material placed by ED to determine whether prima facie, a case can be made out against him.Siddiqui asked the court to direct ED to provide the list of unrelied documents to the defence before the court decides whether to take cognisance of the money laundering case.The defence relied on Sections 223 and 436 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), arguing that the mandatory pre-cognisance hearing should be meaningful enough to allow the accused to present independent material and that the legal issue be referred to the high court.The court rejected the contentions.On the plea seeking supply of unrelied documents, the court upheld its March order dismissing an identical application. Judge Pradhan observed that the issue had already been settled, based on a Supreme Court ruling, and, in that context, the present application was “meritless, and hence, not maintainable.”The court also rejected Siddiqui’s request to place his own documents, claiming to be of “sterling quality”, intending to expose that the case by ED was “full of contradictions”.Opposing the plea, the agency argued that the application was “a deliberate attempt to delay the proceedings.”ED said the applications were “an abuse of the process of law”. Agreeing with the prosecution, the court said, “At the stage of cognisance, the court is only required to take into consideration the material placed by the complainant, for limited purpose of finding out whether a prima facie case for issue of process is made out and is limited to the aforesaid extent.”Siddiqui was arrested by the ED on Nov 18, 2025, days after the Nov 10 Red Fort blast. ED has alleged that the Al Falah University and its controlling entities generated over Rs 415 crore in proceeds of crime through deception and misrepresentation regarding its academic status.
