Hasan Ali Khan granted bail by Mumbai court

In a major embarrassment to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a special court on Friday not only rejected its plea for a 14-day custody of Hasan Ali Khan, but also granted immediate bail to the businessman.

Dismissing ED’s plea, special court judge ML Tahaliyani rapped the agency for the third consecutive day for failing to produce enough proof against Khan, who has allegedly stashed Rs8 billion in Swiss banks.

Tahaliyani said the only offence committed by Khan could be under the Passport Act. When ED’s counsel, Awasthi, argued that Khan travelled on these passports abroad to make arrangements for the said transactions, the judge remarked, “This is stretching the limits way too much just to fit the offence under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Act.”

The court also told the ED that the documents submitted by the agency were hardly confidential since they were available on the Internet.  Under the bail conditions, Khan will not leave the city for five days and will need to report to the ED’s office every day.