Home Case Index All Cases Money Laundering Money Laundering + HC Money Laundering - 2023 (8) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2023 (8) TMI 1241 - HC - Money LaunderingSeeking grant of Bail - Money Laundering - Company had lured the public to invest in its schemes with the promise of good returns, but the Company did not fulfill its promise and did not return even the invested amounts - HELD THAT:- Prima facie it appears that the applicant has been implicated in the present case merely on the basis of suspicion. It is a settled principle of law that however strong a suspicion may be, it cannot take place of a proof beyond reasonable doubt. This fact is also relevant that the E.D. had registered the ECIR on 29.06.2019 and statement of applicant was recorded under Section 50 PMLA on 22.10.2019, 23.10.2019 and 20.03.2020, but he was not taken into custody. The applicant remained in custody in connection with the scheduled offences since 26.02.2021, and although the applicant was named as accused in supplementary compliant filed on 30.01.2022, the E.D. did not seek his custody even during that period - The E.D. took the applicant into custody on 21.07.2022, only after he was granted bail by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 13.07.2022, after having spent about one and a half years in custody and the investigation of the case already stood completed long ago and there was no need for his custodial interrogation. The trial is likely to take many years to conclude because many of the named accused persons have not appeared yet or they have not been arrested yet and 11 witnesses are to be examined by the Prosecution and documents running into 5,000 pages have to be proved - The applicant is said to be one of the key decision makers for purchase of property by GIPL, alongwith Vijender Singh and Vijender Singh has already been granted bail and, therefore, the applicant is also entitled to be released on bail on the ground of parity. The applicant is also entitled to be released on bail. Accordingly, the bail application stands allowed.
|