The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the stand of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail plea by AAP volunteer Chanpreet Singh Rayat in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. A vacation bench of Justice Amit Sharma issued a notice to the ED on Rayat's plea seeking regular bail and asked the agency to file a status report. The matter would be heard next on July 2. The ED had arrested Rayat, who allegedly managed cash payments for the AAP's 2022 Goa election campaign, on April 12. It has alleged that the 'South Group' comprising BRS leader K Kavitha, TDP's Ongole MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy and his son Raghav Magunta, businessman Sarath Chandra Reddy and others paid Rs 100 crore bribe to the AAP for obtaining a prime position in the Delhi liquor market as part of the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22. Out of these alleged kickbacks, the ED has claimed, Rs 45 crore was used by the AAP to fund its Goa election campaign. The excise polic
The Enforcement Directorate has made a fresh arrest in connection with its money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme being implemented in Rajasthan, official sources said Friday. Padamchand Jain, proprietor of Shree Shyam Tubewell Company, has been taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) launched by the Union government aims to provide safe and adequate drinking water through household tap connections and it is being implemented in Rajasthan by the state's Public Health Engineering (PHE) department. A man named Piyush Jain was the first to be arrested in this case by the federal agency early this year. The money laundering case of the ED stems from an FIR registered by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) where it was charged that Padamchand Jain, Mahesh Mittal (proprietor of Shree Ganpati Tubewell Company), Piyush Jain and others were ...
A Delhi court on Friday fixed for June 19 the bail plea of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam. Additional Sessions Judge Mukesh Kumar adjourned the matter after the ED sought time to file reply in the matter. The judge, meanwhile, fixed for Saturday an application filed by Kejriwal seeking directions to allow his wife to join through video conference the proceedings of the medical board constituted to determine Kejriwal's health condition and treatment. The judge directed the jail authorities concerned to file a reply in matter. "Application has been moved by the accused seeking directions to allow his wife to join medical board. Before passing any order I deem it appropriate to call for reply from jail superintendent concerned. The application be kept for tomorrow," the judge said. During the proceedings, the ED requested the court to adjourned the matter till June 25. The judge, however, said he would consider the accuse
The Supreme Court on Monday deferred to June 18 the hearing on Punjab AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra's plea challenging his arrest and remand by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering probe linked to a bank fraud case. A vacation bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Augustine George Masih adjourned the matter after noting that the AAP MLA had not filed a rejoinder in the case. At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, submitted that the matter is about Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and sufficiency of grounds. He said the issues raised in this case are similar to that of the Arvind Kejriwal matter where judgment is already reserved. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for the Punjab AAP MLA, contended that the issues are not similar and the reason for being remanded is primarily non-appearance. The apex court then sought to know whether pleadings in the matter were complete. On being informed that a ..
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is in jail, is facing the same kind of oppression that led to the custodial death of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy who dedicated his life working for tribal rights, according to social media post by the JMM leader. The latest Lok Sabha elections mark the beginning of Jharkhand's revenge for the custodial death of Swamy who had been fighting for tribal rights, said the Facebook post from Soren's account which is being managed by his wife Kalpana Soren. Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. "Just as Father Stan, who raised his voice for the most vulnerable section, was silenced by institutional neglect and injustice, today the same kind of oppression is being done to Hemant Soren. Today there is a need for every Jharkhandi to stand strongly in support of Hemant Soren. Otherwise, no one can stop turning Jharkhand into Manipur," the social media post said. In Manip
A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Supertech chairman and promoter R K Arora in a money laundering case. Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala granted relief to Arora, noting that there was no likelihood of him evading the trial or influencing the investigation. Arora was arrested in June last year. As many as 26 FIRs were registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Delhi Police, Haryana Police and Uttar Pradesh Police against Supertech Limited and its group companies, and Arora, for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal breach for allegedly cheating at least 670 home buyers for an amount of Rs 164 crore. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a cased a case based on the FIRs to probe alleged money laundering by the accused, according to which the amount collected by Supertech Ltd was diverted to their group companies for the purchase of properties and the company with land having much lesser value. The ED alleged that the accused persons have acquired .
Arun Ramchandra Pillai is presently in judicial custody and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi Excise Policy case
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Sunday he will surrender at Tihar Jail later in the day after paying obeisance at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at the Raj Ghat and the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place. Kejriwal was released from prison on May 10 on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls. The polls ended on June 1. "On orders of the honourable Supreme Court, I came out from prison for election campaign for 21 days. Many thanks to the honourable Supreme Court," he said in a post in Hindi on 'X'. "Today I will go to Tihar and surrender. I will leave home at 3 pm. First, I will go to Raj Ghat and pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. From there, I will go to Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place to seek blessings of Hanuman ji. And from there, I will go to the party office and meet with workers and party leaders. From there, I will leave for Tihar," the chief minister said. "All o
Senior IAS officer Manish Ranjan on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in a money laundering case in which the agency recently arrested Jharkhand Rural Development minister Alamgir Alam, official sources said. Ranjan arrived at the ED office here around 11.15 am, they said. Ranjan is a former secretary of the Rural Development department. He is currently the secretary of the Land, Road and Building department and had been asked to depose before the federal agency at its zonal office here on May 28. The IAS officer had earlier been summoned to appear before the ED officials on May 24 but he skipped the summons and had sought more time. The summons is linked to the ED investigation in which Congress leader and state Rural Development minister Alamgir Alam, his former personal secretary Sanjeev Kumar Lal and the latter's domestic help Jahangir Alam were arrested early this month. The agency had claimed to have recovered more than Rs 32 crore from
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Enforcement Directorate to respond to a plea by jailed former minister Satyendar Jain seeking default bail in a money laundering case. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued notice to the ED and asked it to file a status report on the matter. The court also called for the nominal roll of Jain from the jail and listed the matter for further hearing on July 9. Jain is accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him. He has challenged a trial court's May 15 order by which he was denied default bail in the case. Jain has contended that the ED failed to complete the investigation in all respects within the statutory period and the prosecution complaint (charge sheet), which was incomplete, was filed in an attempt to deprive him of his right to default bail under the provisions of Section 167(2) of the CrPC. The ED arrested Jain on May 30 2022, in the money laundering case based on a CBI FIR lodged against him in 2
The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a reply on the bail application moved by former chief minister Hemant Soren. Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, filed the petition before the high court on Monday and requested an early hearing of the matter. Appearing on behalf of Soren before a bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay, senior advocate Kapil Sibal pleaded that the JMM leader was a victim of political conspiracy. The court directed the ED to file a response in the matter and set June 10 as the next date of the hearing. In his petition, Soren pleaded before the court that his name does not figure in any of the documents about 8.5 acres of land in the Bargain circle and no offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is made out against him. He also claimed that the ED was relying only on statements of some people who ha
A special PMLA court in Ranchi on Monday extended Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam's remand with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for three more days in connection with an alleged money laundering case, his legal representatives said. Alam had been taken into custody by the ED on May 15 following two days of interrogation at the agency's office. Initially remanded for six days by the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court starting May 17, his remand was subsequently extended for five days on May 22. Alam's lawyer, Kishlay Prasad, said that the ED prayed for a three-day extension of remand for further inquiry, which was granted by the court. "The ED indicated the necessity for additional inquiries and the requirement for details regarding immovable properties," Prasad elaborated. Alam, who serves as the state parliamentary affairs minister and represents the Pakur seat in the Jharkhand Assembly, is under investigation for alleged irregularities and bribery in the state rural
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren whether a writ court can examine the legality of his arrest after the trial court has taken cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case against him related to an alleged land scam. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, which posted the matter for further hearing on Wednesday, asked Soren's counsel to first satisfy the court as to how interim bail can be granted to him for campaigning in the Lok Sabha poll when his application for regular bail has been dismissed. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, appearing for Soren, sought time till Wednesday to respond to the court's queries. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed Soren's interim bail plea, contending his case was different from that of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail on May 10 for
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raided the premises of retired IAS officer and former Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Ramesh Abhishek as part of a disproportionate assets linked money laundering probe against him, official sources said. The ED case stems from a recent CBI FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the 1982-batch officer. He was raided by the CBI in February. Abhishek retired in 2019 from the DPIIT (erstwhile Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion). The ED is searching the premises of Abhishek as part of a money laundering investigation, the sources said. The CBI had alleged in its FIR that Abhishek enriched himself "illicitly" after retirement by receiving "huge amounts" as consultation fee from private companies whose matters he had dealt while in service. The CBI and ED have also booked his daughter Vanessa. The retired officer also held the post of chairman, Forward Markets ...
Delhi liquor policy scam updates: Enforcement Directorate says it will file the prosecution complaint today, naming the AAP as an accused
Case before the Supreme Court arose from a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision that denied pre-arrest bail to multiple accused in a money laundering case
The Supreme Court scheduled former chief minister Hemant Soren's hearing for May 17, challenging his arrest in money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader and former chief minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the plea of Soren in which he has challenged the May 3 order of the Jharkhand High Court dismissing his petition against the arrest. Soren had also sought interim bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections till the court delivers its verdict on his plea against arrest. On May 10, the top court had disposed of Soren's plea seeking a direction to the high court to deliver its verdict on his petition challenging his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case. The court had observed that the petition of Soren has become infructuous as the high court has delivered its judgement on May 3 and the JMM leader has already challenged the same in the apex court. "This has become ...
The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea filed by former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren seeking a direction to the high court to deliver its verdict on his petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed that the petition has become infructuous as the high court has delivered its judgement on May 3 and Soren has already challenged the same in the apex court. Soren had also sought interim bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections till the high court delivers its verdict on his plea against arrest. "This has become infructuous," the bench told senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chowdhury, who were appearing for Soren. Sibal said Soren's special leave petition (SLP) challenging the last week's verdict of the high court is coming up for hearing before the top court on May 13. He said both the petitions be heard together on May 13. The bench, however, said
On Tuesday, the bench hinted at granting interim bail to Kejriwal to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections