CBI court grants bail to businessman Gautam Khaitan

A Special CBI court on Tuesday granted bail to lawyer-cum-businessman Gautam Khaitan in a money laundering case.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted the bail to Khaitan and asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25 lakh and surety of like amount each. The court also directed him not to influence the witness or hamper the evidence.

On April 9, the court had reserved the order in the second bail plea filed by Khaitan.

During the hearing then, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed Khaitan's bail plea contending that he is a habitual offender.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh, who had appeared on the behalf of the ED, told the court: "In this case, we have clinching evidence. There have to be people who have assisted him. Evidence has to come from different countries."

"As he is a habitual offender, he might try to hide the evidence now that the investigation is at a crucial stage," Singh had contended.

However, Khaitan's counsels Siddharth Luthra and Pramod Dubey told the court that the documents relied upon by the ED have already been filed before the court. Hence, there is "no possibility" of tampering with the evidence.

"The ED has averred in the complaint that further investigation is going on (though there is no provision in law to conduct further investigation in a complaint case), and letters rogatory (LR) will be issued to foreign countries. In these circumstances, there is no likelihood of the conclusion of the trial in the near future," they had said.

Earlier, Khaitan had filed a bail application in February stating the detailed facts of the case. But, the court dismissed the plea citing insufficient grounds.

The ED on March 25 filed a 1500-page charge sheet (prosecution complaint) against Khaitan. The charge sheet was filed before Special Judge Kumar under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In the charge sheet, the ED alleged that Khaitan deposited a huge amount of money in offshore accounts. He has also been accused of holding bank accounts abroad and having Rs 6000 crore which he didn't disclose in his income tax return.

The document was filed in connection with a fresh case lodged against Khaitan on the complaint of the Income Tax (I-T) Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.