Bombay HC grants interim bail to former Topsgrup MD, Sarnaik’s aide in money laundering case

A single-judge bench of Justice Makarand S Karnik granted interim bail to the two on furnishing cash surety of Rs 1 lakh each and asked them not to leave the Greater Mumbai area till further orders. The high court had on December 6 reserved its orders in Sashidharan and Chandole’s pleas, argued by senior advocates Amit Desai and Rajiv Chavan, respectively.

The ED case was based on an FIR filed on October 28, 2020 by Ramesh Iyer, a former employee of Topsgrup who had alleged that the company cheated the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) of Rs 175 crore. The MMRDA contract to Topsgrup, the ED has alleged, was facilitated by Sarnaik, who got kickbacks of at least Rs 7 crore from Topsgrup.

The court noted that all observations made by it are prima facie in nature and said whether the bail will be continued or cancelled would depend on grant of C-summary (closure report) by the concerned court.

The chief metropolitan magistrate’s court had in September this year accepted the closure report filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the case against Topsgrup Services and Solutions Ltd. It was on the basis of this case that the ED had lodged a money laundering case and probed Pratap Sarnaik who was among the MLAs who joined the Eknath Shinde-led rebel faction of the Shiv Sena earlier this year.

Sashidharan was the second person to be arrested in the case after the arrest of Amit Chandole. In February this year, the high court had rejected Sashidharan’s bail plea.

Both the bail applicants sought their release on bail on the grounds that the predicate offence against them, registered by the EOW, had come to close due to the C-summary (FIR filed on mistake of fact) report filed by the agency.

The agency was earlier investigating Topsgrup, its promoter Rahul Nanda and Sarnaik under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.