Money laundering case: Apex court grants liberty to businessman Vijay Nair to move HC for early listing of bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday granted liberty to Vijay Nair businessman and Aam Aadmi Partys communication incharge to approach the Delhi High Court requesting for early listing of his bail plea in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged Delhi excise policy scamThe high court had on April 12 sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate ED on Nairs plea seeking bail and posted the matter for further hearing on May 19Nairs petition came up for hearing on Monday before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha which refused to entertain it at this stage and posted the matter for further hearing on May 19Senior advocate A M Singhvi appearing for Nair said the high court had issued notice and posted the matter for hearing after five weeks despite the fact that the plea is for bailHe said Nair was granted bail on November 14 last year in connection with a corruption case related to the alleged scam being probed by the CBISinghvi said on February 16 this year the trial court had rejected Nairs plea seeking bail in the money laundering case after which he had approached the high courtHe referred to a judgement of the apex court which said bail applications ought to be disposed of within a period of two weeks except where the provisions mandate otherwise with the exception being an intervening applicationYou can move before the single judge of the high court for early date of listing the bench observedThe apex court noted a single judge of the high court had on April 12 posted the matter for hearing on May 19Having regard to the above fact we are not inclined to entertain this SLP special leave petition at this stage However we leave it open to the petitioner to move the single judge of the high court for earlier listing of the application for bail the bench saidOn April 12 the high court had issued notice to the ED on the petition in which Nair has said he was only the media and communications in charge of AAP and was not involved in the drafting framing or implementation of the excise policy in any manner and that he was being victimised for his political affiliationThe trial court had refused to grant bail to Nair and four other accused Sameer Mahendru Sharath Reddy Abhishek Boinpally and Benoy Babu on February 16 while noting further investigation was still pending and it was not possible to hold that they would make no attempt to tamper with the evidence if releasedIn his bail plea before the high court Nair has said the trial court wrongfully and illegally refused to grant him relief and claimed the allegations against him are wrong false and without any basisAlso readFive SC judges unwell CJI DY ChandrachudThe petition before the high court asserted that his arrest on November 13 last year was completely illegal and appears to be motivated by extraneous considerations given that the special court was expected to pronounce orders on his bail plea in the corruption case being probed by the CBIPetitioner is being victimised on account of his political affiliation and there is no merit whatsoever in the FIR or ostensibly the ECIR EDs version of FIR being investigated by the Respondent The Petitioner is liable to be enlarged on bail and his constitutionally protected freedom of liberty be protected by this Honble Court the plea has statedIt claimed the ED has not been able to establish any money trail leading to the petitioner much less to any public servant and loose uncorroborated allegations cannot constitute the basis of a prosecutionThe money laundering case has arisen from a CBI FIR which was lodged after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the new excise policy in 2021 which was later scrappedThe CBI has alleged that Nair was involved in meeting the other coaccused and liquor manufacturers as well as distributors at various hotels in Hyderabad Mumbai and Delhi for arranging illgotten money through hawala operatorsIt has also claimed that Boinpally was part of the meetings and involved in the conspiracy to launder money along with another accused liquor businessman Sameer MahendruIn the moneylaundering case the ED had raided nearly three dozen locations in Delhi and Punjab following the arrest of Mahendru the managing director of liquor distributor Indospirit Group which is based in Delhis Jor BaghThe other accused in the case are former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna exdeputy commissioner in the excise department Anand Tiwari and former assistant commissioner Pankaj BhatnagarAccording to the CBI and ED irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders The Delhi government had implemented the excise policy on November 17 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruptionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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