Supreme Court grants bail to former IL&FS Transportation Network MD R Karunakaran in PMLA case

The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Managing Director of IL&FS Transportation Network Ramchand Karunakaran in a money laundering case registered against him [Ramchand Karunakaran vs ED and anr]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat granted bail on account of the advanced age of the accused and the fact that he had already spent three years spent in custody. "Appellant has completed more than three years of imprisonment in connection with the offence under PMLA. It has been brought to our notice that accused 2,3,4,7 have not been arrested, and charges are yet to be framed. Considering the entirety of the matter and the fact that the appellant is a senior citizen, we hold that he is entitled to bail. We therefore allow this appeal, he shall be produced before trial court within 3 days for bail conditions," the Court ordered. It further directed that the accused will have to mark his presence at the Enforcement Directorate office every second and fourth Monday of the month between 11am-1pm. "He should not influence the witnesses or tamper evidence, and appear on every single date [of the trial] in person unless exempted," the bench added.He was also directed to surrender his passport if not done so already. .The Bombay High Court had in October 2020 rejected the bail application of Karunakaran, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 19, 2019, leading to the present appeal.The allegations deal with illegally sanctioning loans to other companies to repay IL&FS' finance arm's own loans, while the accused continued to receive high salaries. ₹2,270 crores were allegedly siphoned off. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the appellant, cited the age of accused as a ground. "He is 67; charges have not been framed in the predicate offence." Additional Solicitor General SV Raju reiterated the serious nature of the offence. Sibal then pointed out that the other members of the IL&FS' finance arm have been released or never arrested. .Senior Advocate Arunabh Chowdhury with advocates Pragya Baghel and Karma Dorjee also represented Karunakaran. They were instructed by advocates Abhay Jadeja, Varun Satiya, and Arun Unnikrishnan of Mumbai-based law firm Jadeja & Satiya.[Read order]