ED seeks bail cancellation of Misa Bharti's CA in PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate today sought cancellation of the bail to a chartered accountant, accused in a money laundering case and alleged to have links with RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
The ED's counsel alleged before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva that CA Rajesh Agarwal laundered money for various persons through shell companies.
The counsel said Agarwal, the main accused in the case, was wrongly granted bail by the trial court while co-accused-- two Delhi-based businessmen brothers Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain-- are in jail under judicial custody.
It sought cancellation of the bail granted to Agarwal, saying since it was an economic offence he should not have been granted the relief.

Meanwhile, Agarwal's counsel claimed that he has not yet received the complete paperbook after which the court asked the ED to supply the documents.
The court listed the matter for consideration on February 13 and directed Agarwal's counsel to file his response to ED's plea seeking cancellation of bail.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the ED, had earlier told the court that the anti-money laundering agency was probing a separate graft case against Bharti, with whom Agarwal is suspected to have had links.
The ED has claimed that Agarwal was associated with some transactions involving a firm, allegedly linked to Rajya Sabha member Bharti, which is under the scanner for suspected tax evasion.

Agarwal, who was arrested on May 23 last year in connection with a Rs 8,000 crore money laundering racket allegedly involving two Delhi-based brothers, was granted bail on September 4 by the trial court, which said no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody.
The case had emerged after the ED filed a criminal complaint in February last year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It was based on a charge sheet filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office against certain individuals and firms "for providing accommodation entries by accepting funds from their beneficiaries through mediators and converting the same into share premium transactions in the beneficiary company".

The ED claimed that the entire racket could be worth about Rs 8,000 crore.
It recently filed a second charge sheet against Misa Bharti and her husband in the case before the trial court.
In July last year, ED filed the first charge sheet in the case against various accused, including Agarwal, but it did not make Lalu's daughter an accused. However, the document contained her name.
It had raided the farmhouses of Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in Delhi in relation to the case being probed against Agarwal, the Jain brothers and others, who are alleged to have laundered money using over 90 shell companies.

Besides Agarwal and the Jain brothers, it included the names of around 35 people and the firms as accused.
The ED also claimed that Agarwal was instrumental in providing accommodation entries to many high-profile people and political entities to help launder their slush funds. These include those being probed by the Income Tax Department in a Rs 1,000 crore dubious land deal case.
The ED had in May last year filed a charge sheet against the Jain brothers. It had also attached agricultural land worth Rs 1.12 crore belonging to them in Bhatti village in the National Capital Region.