The Aam Aadmi Party, which is badly embroiled in the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, is hopeful of getting relief in the coming times. AAP’s top leaders are in jail in this case. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself is in jail. Meanwhile, the hope of AAP’s senior leader Satyendra Jain getting relief in a money laundering case has increased. In fact, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it hopes that the Delhi High Court will pronounce its verdict on Satyendra Jain’s bail plea on the next date of hearing. The apex court also said that bail cases should not be postponed unnecessarily.
A bench of Justices Manoj Mishra and SVN Bhatti made this remark while disposing of Jain’s petition against the High Court’s decision to adjourn the hearing on his bail plea for six weeks. The bench said, “Needless to say, bail matters should not be unnecessarily postponed. Therefore, we hope and trust that the High Court will give its decision on the next date of hearing.”
Hearing in High Court on July 9
The High Court has fixed the hearing on Jain’s bail plea on July 9. During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Jain, said that he has challenged the long adjournment order. Singhvi said that this case has raised a big question of law whether the right of the accused to ‘default’ bail can be terminated by filing an incomplete chargesheet by the investigating agency. He said that a similar case is pending before a three-judge bench of the apex court and urged the vacation bench to attach Jain’s bail plea with it.
Justice Mishra told Singhvi that there are two judges in the bench, so it cannot decide on this issue, which is pending before a three-judge bench. The bench said, “Let the High Court decide on this issue, then we will consider it. The High Court will consider the merits of the case keeping in mind the factual aspect.” The bench also said that the relevant order is only a one-line stay order.
The bench said that a three-judge bench of the apex court is considering a legal issue and it would not be appropriate for it to be considered by a two-judge bench. The apex court said, “This petition is against the order of the Delhi High Court, in which the hearing on the bail plea has been postponed till July 9. Singhvi has said that the question of law governing the decision of the High Court is under the consideration of a three-judge bench of this court, so it is appropriate that this matter be combined with that case.
Let the High Court’s decision come
The bench said, “We do not find any merit in this argument, because the High Court will decide the matter on its merits and if the petitioner is dissatisfied with the order of the High Court, he can challenge it.” On May 28, the Delhi High Court had asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to Jain’s petition and submit a status report on the matter.
The court had also sought Jain’s record from the jail authorities and fixed July 9 for the next hearing on the case. Jain is accused of laundering money through four companies allegedly linked to him. He has challenged the May 15 order of the lower court, under which he was denied ‘default’ bail in the case.
Jain has argued that the ED had failed to complete the investigation in all the cases 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 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The ED arrested Jain on May 30, 2022 in a money laundering case based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against him in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was granted regular bail by the trial court on September 6, 2019 in the case registered by the CBI.
Tags: AAP Government, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Arvind Kejriwal
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 25, 2024, 18:58 IST