MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Saturday had a special bench of Justice Nitin Borkar hearing a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for cancellation of bail granted to Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) of Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut and his alleged associate Pravin Raut in the money laundering case linked to Patra Chawl redevelopment case.
The next hearing is now on March 2.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh for ED sought cancelation of what he said was a "perverse" bail order. Singh argued on law and then took the court through documents of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and the chargesheet filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police in the underlying case.
Singh said the special trial court failed to note that MHADA is not even a party to the ED case and yet had made findings against the Authority, besides failing to appreciate that money laundering is a serious "stand-alone" offence requiring stern action and cited what the Apex Court held on such white collar crimes in the landmark Vijay Chaudhary case judgment.
The ED had arrested Raut on July 31, 2022.
After 100 days in jail, a special court established under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had released Raut on bail holding his arrest "illegal" and a "witchhunt".
Singh argued that the Special PMLA court Judge had not applied the law correctly while granting bail and had considered all irrelevant material, while also exceeding his jurisdiction and made unwarranted observations in the bail.
