Bombay High Court holds special sitting on Saturday to hear plea by ED to cancel bail of Sanjay Raut

The Bombay High Court held a special sitting on Saturday for hearing the plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shiv Sena Member of Parliament, Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case. .Single-judge Justice NR Borkar sat today, a non-working day, and heard Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, who argued on behalf of ED, against the Sessions Court order granting bail to Raut. .Raut was arrested by the ED on July 31, 2022 in connection with a money laundering case in relation to the redevelopment of a chawl project in a northern suburb of Mumbai.He was summoned for questioning in the re-development of Patra chawl and related transactions involving his wife and ‘associates’. He was arrested on July 31 and after spending 8 days in ED’s custody, Raut was remanded to judicial custody.He moved for bail on September 7, 2022 claiming that ED’s case against him was filed to crush the opposition faced by the ruling party.On November 9, 2022 he was granted bail by a special court dealing with offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED then moved the present plea before the High Court challenging the special court order..ASG Singh argued on Saturday that the sessions judge had applied an incorrect test for granting bail, taking into consideration all irrelevant material. Singh contended that the sessions judge had also exceeded his jurisdiction and made observations which were not required in the case. “The judge has exceeded jurisdiction and rendered a finding against predicate offence. He has given findings against MHADA which is not even a party. There are certain observations which were not required and no one had even argued that. Those are uncalled for and not required,” the ASG said. .It was his case that the sessions judge in his order incorrectly applied the twin condition test under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).“PMLA is enacted to take stern action against money laundering, it is a stand alone offence. It is more serious than murder, asks for stern action against persons committing this act,” Singh stated referring to Vijay Chaurdhary’s judgment of the Supreme Court..While the ASG was reading out the chargesheet filed against the prime accused in the case, Sarang and Rakesh Wadhawan, promoters of the Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd. (HDIL), the High Court asked why ED had not sought for custody of the two persons“They are main accused, there allegations of money laundering against them… If they are released on bail in scheduled offence, then what happens? Common allegations are there,” the Court said. .The ASG responded that since the Wadhawan duo were already in judicial custody in some other offence, their custody was not required. However, their statement had been recorded by ED, it was submitted.ASG also stated that cancellation of Raut's bail was being sought because the sessions court order was perverse..The Court then asked ASG to show incriminating material against Raut and why cancellation of bail was being sought.The judge also asked ASG to show judgments where bail had been cancelled on ground of perversity..The matter will be heard again on March 2 at 2.30 pm.