The Supreme Court on Friday modified the interim bail granted by the Delhi High Court to Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Magunta Srinivasulu’s son Magunta Raghava Reddy in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor policy scam.
A Vacation Bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose shortened the duration of the interim bail from June 22 to June 12.
The Delhi High Court had on June 7 allowed Raghava Reddy a 15-day interim bail to care for his maternal grandmother who is in intensive care at a Nellore hospital after suffering a fall.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, urged the court to set aside the High Court order, saying it was just a ploy after an attempt to get regular bail was earlier dismissed by the sessions court.
Raghava Reddy, represented by senior advocates Amit Desai and Siddharth Dave, said the patient was alone with no one to care for her in the hospital. A two-week interim bail to care for her was not a “perversity”.
“These are scamsters, moneybags… They can manage in a hospital. These are tricks to get interim bail because they are unable to get regular bail,” Mr. Raju countered.
He said the lower court had dismissed an earlier plea for regular bail. Following which, Raghava Reddy had applied for interim bail on the ground of his wife’s health. However, this plea was withdrawn when the High Court had sought an evaluation of the claim.
The Vacation Bench said the purpose of the interim bail, that is, to care for the grandmother would be served by giving bail till June 12, following which he would surrender.
The court said both the High Court and its own order should not be used by the accused as a precedent to get interim bail in future in the case.
Mr. Raju had on June 8 said the stringent pre-conditions for bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act were clearly ignored by the High Court in the case.
The conditions under Section 45 state that the court has to first give an opportunity to the public prosecutor to be heard on the question of bail of an accused. In case the prosecutor opposes the bail plea, the court can grant bail only if it is satisfied that the accused is not guilty and unlikely to commit a similar offence when he is on bail.
