ED plea against bail to Raut: HC asks why it didn’t arrest main accused

A single-judge bench of Justice Nitin R Borkar Saturday began hearing the ED’s plea wherein Singh made submissions against the bail order.

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court granted bail to Sanjay Raut on November 9, 2022, in a case linked to the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in the northern suburbs of Mumbai. The same day, the ED had moved the high court seeking cancellation of the bail. The central agency had sought an urgent interim stay on the bail order. However, the Court had refused to suspend the bail order and cleared the way for Sanjay Raut’s release from jail.

Sanjay Raut was arrested by the ED on July 31, 2022. He had sought bail on September 7, 2022, claiming that the ED’s case against him was filed to crush the Opposition.

While Singh was making submissions relying on the ED chargesheet filed against the prime accused in the case, the high court asked why they were not arrested by the ED and why their custody was not sought by it. The ASG submitted that the two were in judicial custody and as their statements were recorded, their arrest was not required and they were charge-sheeted in the case.

Senior advocate Aabad Ponda representing Pravin Raut submitted that the Wadhawans were out under under Section 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Moreover, Singh argued that the special PMLA court, while granting bail had relied on ‘irrelevant’ material and the trial judge had ‘exceeded jurisdiction’ and made observations against the predicate offence including findings against Housing Authority, which were “unnecessary” and “uncalled for”.

Singh argued that the PMLA was enacted to take strict action against the offence of money laundering, which as per past Supreme Court judgments is “more serious than murder,” therefore the ED had rightly invoked the offences against the accused.

The ED also argued that the trial court judge while granting relief had ‘incorrectly’ applied twin conditions for the grant of bail, which as per Section 45 of the PMLA are required to be full-filled for the grant of bail by the court for offences punishable with a jail term of more than three years.

Singh said the agency had moved the high court as the trial court order was “perverse” and the same required to be set aside. The Court will continue hearing the plea on March 2.