Excise case: HC allows Raghav Magunta’s wife to undergo medical evaluation in Chennai hospital

A single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the medical evaluation of Magunta’s wife to be carried out at ESIC hospital, Chennai within “seven days”. The HC further noted the submission of senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, who appeared for Magunta, that his wife will present herself before ESIC medical hospital in Chennai and get her medical examination done.

The court said, “medical superintendent of the hospital is requested to send the report to both parties” over email.

During the hearing, the ED’s counsel Zoheb Hossain said the medical reports of his wife submitted by Magunta have been verified, however, her medical evaluation be done by doctors in Delhi or Andhra Pradesh.

Aggarwal said that he has no difficulty if the wife is examined in Chennai itself and said that she is a resident of the city. He, however, said that in order to assist his wife his client should be admitted to interim bail for a short duration. Aggarwal had also submitted, “Whatever hospital they want she can get evaluated at… however, for her a familiar environment is critical”.

Hossain said that the agency wants the medical evaluation to ascertain whether Magunta is entitled to interim bail or not. “The purpose of evaluation is to examine whether the interim bail is warranted at all or not.”

On May 8, a special court had dismissed Magunta’s interim bail plea saying that it cannot be ignored that he was being prosecuted for money laundering which is a serious economic offence.