CHANDIGARH, August 26: The High Court of Delhi has stayed the prosecution of Arvind Khanna, a former Sangrur MLA and general secretary attached to Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh.
The prosecution was instituted by the Central Bureau of Investigation over the allegations of violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
According to Atul Nanda, a former Additional Advocate General Punjab and senior Supreme Court Advocate, the court passed these orders on August 24 on the petition filed by Khanna.The CBI had alleged that Khanna had received foreign remittances while he was a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly without prior permission of the Central Government, whereas Khanna had contended that these were gifts received by him from his father and hence exempted from the provisions of the Act.
He maintained that it was part of a family arrangement by which his father had made gifts to all the children of the Khanna family including him (Arvind Khanna). Khanna had also produced documentary evidence and statements that these foreign remittances had come from the foreign bank/trust fund accounts of his father.