New Delhi. The Supreme Court granted interim bail to a Chhattisgarh businessman arrested in a money laundering case related to illegal extortion on coal transportation, taking cognizance of the fact that he has already served one year and seven months of imprisonment.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Vishwanathan gave six weeks time to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to ascertain the status of the investigation and bring on record additional affidavits with relevant materials.
The top court said that as on date, there is no previous substantive offense (underlying criminal activity giving illegal benefits) registered against the petitioner under section 384 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or any other provision. The court said, “The petitioner has already undergone imprisonment for about one year and seven months. “The petitioner is not named as an accused in the FIR or the chargesheet….”
The bench said, “In the result, without expressing any final opinion regarding the application, we find that the petitioner has made out a strong prima facie case for being released on interim bail.” The apex court said that the petitioner is directed to be released on interim bail, provided he (the businessman) has to furnish a surety bond to the satisfaction of the special court at Raipur.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Sunil Kumar Aggarwal challenging the order of the Chhattisgarh High Court which had rejected his bail plea on April 8. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vikas Pahwa appeared on behalf of the petitioner in the case.
The ED investigation pertains to an alleged scam in which an illegal fee of Rs 25 was being charged for every tonne of coal transported in Chhattisgarh by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen. The ED, in its second supplementary charge sheet, alleged that IAS officer Ranu Sahu, who was serving as the collector of Korba district during the period of the scam, had helped in collection of illegal fees. The recovery work was done by Suryakant Tiwari and his associates. This money laundering case stems from a complaint by the Income Tax Department, which was registered after a raid conducted by the department in June 2022.