SC reserves order on bail plea of lawyer in PMLA case

The Supreme Court today reserved its order on the bail plea of lawyer Rohit Tandon, who was arrested in connection with an alleged money laundering case after demonetisation.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud reserved its verdict after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta concluded their arguments in the case.
The bench allowed Mehta to file an additional affidavit in support of his arguments that the benefit of bail should not be granted in the serious money laundering case.
Seeking bail for Tandon, Rohatgi said that the concept of bail is rule and jail is exception has been turned upside down in this case. Rohatgi argued that no case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was made out against him.

He said that Tandon was allegedly found with unaccounted cash but that is not an offence under PMLA as the Act deals with proceeds of crime.
At best, the case was of income tax violation and how can a man be roped in for an unknown criminal offence, he said.

However, Mehta vehemently opposed the bail plea and submitted that Tandon was converting the illegal cash and causing harm to the government of India which had cracked down on black money.
"Illegal cash was being converted by this gentleman through illegal means. It is not just a case of Income tax violation," Mehta said.

Tandon has sought regular bail on the grounds that he needs to look after his ailing mother.
The apex court had on September 4 refused to extend the three-week interim bail granted by the Delhi High Court to the lawyer.
He was granted interim bail on August 10 by the High Court from where he had withdrawn his plea for regular bail.
Tandon had earlier moved a fresh bail application before the High Court which on May 5 had rejected his bail plea.
A trial court had earlier denied bail to Tandon on the grounds that he was alleged to have been involved in a "white collar crime" with other accused in a "well-planned" manner.

The Enforcement Directorate had arrested him after a raid on his law firm in connection with a black money probe that had led to the alleged seizure of Rs 13.6 crore. He was allegedly involved in illegal conversion of nearly Rs 60 crore demonetised currency.
Besides him, some other accused were also arrested in connection with a separate Prevention of Money Laundering Act case.