Court to hear bail plea of corporate lobbyist Talwar on Apr 28

A Delhi Court will hear next week the arguments on the plea of corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar seeking bail in a money laundering case related to receiving foreign funding illegally.

In a hearing held through video conferencing on Friday, special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar adjourned the matter to April 28 saying that the charge sheet filed against Talwar recently was voluminous and he needed time to go through the documents.

The court also directed the Enforcement Directorate as well as the accused to file certain documents in the matter.

ED's counsel Amit Mahajan had earlier opposed the application saying it was not the right stage to entertain the bail plea.

In his application, Talwar has said that no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody since the probe was already complete and there was no chance that the investigation could be hampered.

A Delhi court had earlier dismissed Talwar's interim bail application moved on medical grounds in view of coronavirus, noting that he was lodged in Tihar central jail here where all the facilities were available.

The court had passed the order after Mahajan along with ED's counsel Nitesh Rana said that the jail authorities had not filed any report about Talwar's health condition which suggests he risks the infection.

According to the ED, Talwar was the founding member of NGO Advantage India which had received foreign contribution of Rs 90.72 crore from MBDA England, a leading European missile manufacturer, and Airbus France under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funding between 2012-13 and 2015-16.

"Investigation has revealed that the NGO booked 'bogus' expenditure under various heads to show that foreign donation was utilised for various purposes," the agency had said.