Court grants bail to O P Chautala in money laundering case

A Delhi court Friday granted bail to former Haryana chief minister O P Chautala in an over Rs 6 crore money laundering case, noting that the by Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not arrest him during investigation.

Special judge Kamini Lau granted the relief on an application moved by Chautala after he appeared before the court, which had summoned him as accused on a charge sheet filed by the ED.

The court directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

However, the court put various conditions on the accused, including surrendering his passport before it.

In his application, Chautala said he was not required for custodial interrogation and that the agency itself did not chose to arrest him.

The bail application was opposed by ED's special public prosecutor N K Matta who said that further examination of the accused was required for identifying the money trail and other suspected beneficiaries in the case.

Chautala is currently serving a 10-year jail term in a separate case related to teachers' recruitment scam.

The final report has sought Chautala's prosecution under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED informed the court that disproportionate assets worth Rs 6.09 crore were "illegally generated" by Chautala between May 1993 and May 2006, through corruption and were projected as untainted property by utilising them in the construction and in acquiring movable assets.

Chautala is serving imprisonment for illegally recruiting 3,206 Junior Basic Trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.

The CBI had on March 26, 2010 named Chautala in a charge sheet, indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore. The ED had filed a separate case based on the CBI's FIR.