Court reserves order on Gautam Khaitan's second bail plea for April 12

A special CBI court here on Tuesday reserved its order on the bail plea of lawyer-cum-businessman Gautam Khaitan in connection with a money laundering case, for April 12.

The order was reserved by the Special CBI Court Judge Arvind Kumar.

The court on Tuesday heard the second bail plea filed by Khaitan, who is currently in the judicial custody.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) in reply, however, opposed Khaitan's bail plea contending that he is a habitual offender.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh appearing 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."

Singh also said that there is a "fear" that a person with knowledge of it, will tamper with the evidence.

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

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, as a result of which 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 LR will be issued to foreign countries. In these circumstances, there is no likelihood of conclusion of the trial in the near future," they further argued.

Earlier, Khaitan had filed a bail application in February wherein he stated the detail facts of the case, but later, the court dismissed the plea citing that it has no sufficient grounds.

The agency 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 its 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.

This 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.

Acting on it, the court on March 25 summoned Gautam Khaitan along with his wife Ritu Khaitan and two firms in connection with the money laundering case.

He has also been accused of holding bank accounts abroad and having Rs 6,000 crore which he didn't disclose in his income tax return.