Shakti Bhog Bank Fraud: Supreme Court slams bail condition requiring accused to share Google location with police

The Supreme Court on Monday took strong objection to a bail condition requiring Raman Bhuraria, an accused in a money-laundering case, to constantly send the police the exact details of his location by sharing the Google pin location from his mobile phone. [Directorate of Enforcement vs Raman Bhuraria].A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Karol also refused to cancel the bail granted to Bhuraria for now, but issued notice on the appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the bail granted by the Delhi High Court.The case will be heard again in October. .Notably, the apex court reacted strongly to the following bail condition imposed by the Delhi High Court: "The applicant shall drop a Google pin location from his mobile phone to the IO concerned which shall be kept operational throughout his bail.". Justice Oka questioned whether such a condition can be allowed at all. "What kind of conditions have been passed? See this - Google pin drop location. Totally surveillance. We will have to see if this can even be allowed. Issue notice, returnable on October 3. We will not be cancelling the bail (for now)," he said. .The High Court had granted regular bail to Raman Bhuraria in February this year.Bhuraria is the alleged mastermind in the money laundering case of ₹3269.42 crores related to Shakti Bhog Foods bank fraud.The single-judge had noted that though the ED accused the applicant of being the ‘mastermind’ of the fraud, it had relied only on five documents to show his guilt. Further, the chargesheet was yet to be filed, the High Court found..Bhuraria was the internal auditor of Shakti Bhog Foods Limited (SBFL) and statutory auditor of several sister concerns of SBFL.The ED has alleged that it was through his aid and assistance that SBFL borrowed, layered and siphoned off the loan funds using the platform of about 24 known group companies and several shell entities.It was also alleged that he was directly involved in paper sale purchase transactions of SBFL without conducting any actual business transactions, which resulted in inflation of their financials. It was on the strength of these audited but falsely inflated financials that SBFL was able to obtain loans from banks, the ED contended.The borrowed funds were then channelized through the bank accounts of several Shakti Bhog group entities, which had provided a platform for changing the colour of the borrowed funds from liabilities to assets and to siphon off the same by creating a web of complex transactions.Bhuraria was arrested in August 2021 and remained in custody till the Delhi High Court allowed his release on bail, which has now been challenged before the Supreme Court. .Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the ED before the Supreme Court today.