The Enforcement Directorate has frozen Rs 1.77 crore belonging to journalist Rana Ayyub on the charge of money laundering and diverting funds collected for philanthropic purposes. 

Sources in the agency said it had issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach a fixed deposit and bank accounts belonging to her and her family members.

The money laundering case against Rana Ayyub stems from an FIR by the  Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad Police in September, by a Vikas Sankrityayan – the founder of an NGO and a resident of Ghaziabad.

According to ED sources, the journalist had raised over Rs 2.69 crore through an online crowdfunding platform called Ketto for charitable purposes between 2020 and 2021. However, these funds were withdrawn in the bank accounts of her sister and father and the entire amount was subsequently transferred Ms Ayyub's own account.

Ms Ayyub has earlier stated that the "entire donation received through Ketto is accounted for and not a single paisa has been misused".

According to an ED note, Ms Ayyub submitted documents of expense for about Rs 31 lakh to the ED, however, after verification of the claimed expenses, the agency had found that the actual expenses to be Rs 17.66 lakh only.

"Fake bills were found to have been prepared by Rana Ayyub in the name of some entities to claim expenses on relief work. Expenses made for personal travel by air were claimed as expense for relief work," it alleged.

The agency said its probe "makes it abundantly clear that the funds were raised in the name of charity in a completely pre-planned and systematic manner, and the funds were not utilised completely for the purpose of which the funds were raised".

Ms Ayyub, it added, created a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh from the funds raised on the online platform and subsequently "did not utilise" these for relief work.

The agency also found Ms Ayyub "deposited a total of Rs 74.50 lakh in PM CARES fund and CM Relief Fund."