Court dismisses former BPSL CMD Singal's bail plea, sends him to jail

A Delhi court Thursday dismissed the interim bail application of former Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) CMD Sanjay Singal in a multi-crore money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud.

Special judge Bharat Parashar denied the relief to Singal after the ED told the court that the accused had tampered with the evidence in the past and if allowed to come out of jail, he was again likely to repeat that and influence witnesses.

The court dismissed the bail application, while saying that the jail authorities "are duty bound under law to provide all necessary medical facility to the accused and if required accused be also provided all necessary medical aid as per doctor's advice and if required be even got medically examined at AIIMS/RML".

The court sent the accused to judicial custody till December 19.

ED's special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana opposed the bail application, saying that on all occasions when the accused was taken to a hospital for routine checkups during his 14-day custodial interrogation at the hands of the agency, the accused refused to get any treatment.

"The ED has no objection if necessary directions passed for getting him medically examined from any hospital during the course of his judicial custody.

"The investigation in the present mater is at a crucial stage and in case accused is ordered to be released even on interim bail then keeping in view his past conduct in tempering with the evidence he is again likely to temper with the evidence and witnesses and his co-conspirators and thereby restraining the truth from coming out," Rana told the court.

Singal, 59, had moved the bail application through advocate Arshdeep Singh for a period of four weeks, saying he had "fragile health" and he needed to consult "trusted medical professionals and receive appropriate medical treatment, in relation to the multiple ailments the applicant suffers from since several years".

He claimed that he was suffering from various ailments, including coronary artery disease, spine lumbar, uncontrolled diabetes and severe hypertension.

"The applicant is entitled to seek preventive and ameliorative measures for his health and not be made to wait for an emergency situation which may be life-threatening while in custody," the application said.

Singal was placed under arrest on November 22 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was questioned in connection with the case, advocate A R Aditya, also appearing for the ED, said.

Singal was arrested as he was not cooperating in the probe.

The ED recently attached assets worth Rs 4,025 crore of BPSL.

The ED said, "An amount of Rs 695.14 crore was introduced as capital by Sanjay Singal (the then CMD of the company) and his family members in BPSL out of artificially generated long-term capital gains (LTCG) by diversion of bank loans fund of BPSL.