Delhi HC seeks ED response on default bail plea of AAP functionary Vijay Nair in money laundering case
Delhi High Court (Photo credit: PTI)
Vijay Nair contended that the ED has though filed a supplementary charge sheet within the statutory period of 60 days of arrest but without actual completion of the investigation qua him and hence, it can be termed as a piecemeal and incomplete charge sheet, which has been filed just to defeat the right of an accused to be released on default bail.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate and sought its reply on a plea by Aam Aadmi Party functionary Vijay Nair seeking default bail in a money laundering case that arose out of the now-defunct Delhi Excise Policy.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, issued notice to the ED and granted it time to file its reply, news agency PTI reported.
Earlier, the trial court hearing the excise policy cases had rejected his plea for default bail and had asked him to approach the same judge or bench of the Delhi High Court, saying that it was not the competent or appropriate forum to consider his plea for default bail.
Nair contended before the trial court that the ED has though filed a supplementary prosecution complaint (charge sheet) within the statutory period of 60 days of arrest but without actual completion of the investigation qua him and hence, it can be termed as a piecemeal and incomplete charge sheet, which has been filed by the investigating agency just to defeat the right of an accused to be released on default bail.
The High Court had earlier rejected his bail plea in the money laundering case along with the pleas of other accused, including senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Senior advocate Rebecca John, representing Nair in the case in the High Court, argued that the ED filed “piecemeal charge sheets” in the case and Nair was entitled to bail.
The ED opposed Nair’s plea for a grant of default bail and submitted before the court that the said argument for default bail was already raised by Nair before the High Court, which rejected his bail plea.
The ED arrested Nair in the money laundering case in November last year and the investigating agency has said that he was involved in meeting the other co-accused persons, liquor manufacturers and distributors at various hotels in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi for arranging “ill-gotten money through hawala operators”.