SC issues notice to ED on Kejriwal’s plea against arrest, next hearing on April 29
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the ED seeking its response on Kejriwal's plea by April 24.
A Delhi court on Monday extended by seven days the custody of a former Andhra Bank Director arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Observing that he was required for further interrogation in connection with the money laundering probe in an alleged Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case, Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, who appeared for ED, sought extension of his remand.
The plea of the agency seeking 12-day custody of Anup Prakash Garg, who was arrested by the ED on January 12 in connection with the case involving a Gujarat-based pharmacy firm, was partly allowed by Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma.
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Garg’s arrest had come after the ED first took in custody a Delhi-based businessman, Gagan Dhawan, in November last year.
After taking cognizance of an FIR lodged by the CBI in this regard, the ED filed the money laundering case.
During the investigation, the ED said it came across “certain entries” in a diary seized by the Income Tax Department in 2011 showing cash payments, amounting to about Rs 1.52 crore, made to one “Mr Garg,
Director, Andhra Bank”, by the Sandesara brothers between 2008 and 2009.
It had alleged, “Various cash payments were made to Garg, as reflected in the said entries, on the instructions of the Sandesara brothers, by withdrawing cash from the bank accounts of several benami companies owned by them.”
The ED had alleged that Garg used many Kolkata-based bogus shell companies to launder what he obtained from the Sandesaras.
The CBI launched proceedings against Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, alleging that the company had taken loans amounting to over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank.
The agency had also booked Garg, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi and certain unidentified persons in this connection. It alleged that the money turned out to be one of the non-performing assets.
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