A special court has declined the plea of the Delhi Police to arrest lawyer Rohit Tandon, who is lodged in jail in an alleged money laundering case, in another similar matter.
A special court has declined the plea of the Delhi Police to arrest lawyer Rohit Tandon, who is lodged in jail in an alleged money laundering case, in another similar matter.
The court rejected the prosecution's plea saying the accused was not arrested during the investigation of the case in which charge sheet has been filed.
"Since during the investigation, the accused was never arrested, I do not see any reason to allow the application of the State. Same is accordingly dismissed," Special Judge Hemani Malhotra said.
The court was hearing a case in which it has taken cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police against Ashish Kumar, the then manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Rohit Tandon, entry operator Raj Kumar Goel and businessmen R C Sharma, Dinesh Bhola and Kamal Jain for alleged irregularities in conversion of about Rs 35 crore worth of demonetised currency.
Tandon was brought to court in pursuance to a production warrant issued for him earlier.
The investigating officer filed an application seeking Tandon's arrest in this case which was opposed by his counsel on the grounds that once a charge sheet has been filed without arresting the accused, he cannot be arrested at this stage.
Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, however, said that as per the provision of CrPC, the court after taking cognisance of an offence, may remand the accused in custody.
During the hearing, the court was informed that the Delhi High Court has stayed till October 13 non-bailable warrants issued by it against accused Bhola and Jain.
The copies of charge sheet were supplied to the accused and the court listed the matter for August 21 for scrutiny of documents and hearing bail pleas of Tandon, Bhola and Jain.
Till then, the court granted interim bail to Tandon, Jain and Bhola in the case on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 each and a surety of like amount.
The court had earlier questioned the police for not arresting some of the accused in the case despite sufficient incriminating material against them.
The IO had told the court that investigation regarding other accused was pending and he will file a supplementary charge sheet after completion of investigation.
Bank manager Ashish Kumar, who is in custody since December 22, 2016 in another case, was arrested by the Delhi Police in this case on March 28 for alleged offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery of a valuable security and using forged document as genuine and criminal conspiracy.
According to the prosecution, during the probe it was found that co-accused Goel and his associates were engaged in earning profits by routing money into various accounts by using forged documents.
They received commission from the clients who either needed money by cheque or in cash, it alleged.
The accounts were opened by Goel and his associates in Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank, Naya Bazar branch here. On November 8, 2016 when the government announced demonetisation, Goel conspired with Kumar, one chartered accountant and a mediator who used to bring demonetised currency to the bank to convert it into new notes and earned profits, it has said.
It has alleged that though Goel's accounts were in different branches, Kumar and the chartered accountant allowed him to deposit old currency notes in the bank's Connaught Place branch.
The prosecution has alleged that after demonetisation, Goel opened accounts in Naya Bazar branch in the names of various companies and deposited Rs 34.75 crore in both the branches.
Kumar then issued demand drafts in the name of various fictitious persons, it has said, adding that the accused were allegedly involved in a deep-rooted conspiracy to convert black money in old demonetised currency into new ones on commission basis. It was misappropriated by them for illegal monetary gains by violating guidelines of the RBI and the Ministry of Finance.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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