New Delhi [India], June 13 : Delhi's Patiala House Court on Tuesday extended the Enforcement Directorate custody of Sanjay Prakash Rai 'Sherpuriya' for further three days in a money laundering case.
He was produced after the expiry of four days of remand granted to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Vacation judge Aparna Swami extended the remand of Sherpuriya after hearing the submission of counsel for ED.
"Taking into consideration the reasons/ grounds cited in the application for extension of police custody remand for the purpose of custodial interrogation of accused Sanjay Prakash Rai. Three days (03) police custody remand is given to El) with the directions that he is medically examined in the Government hospital today and as well as on the date of production, the court directed.
Further, the accused will be allowed to meet his lawyer every day for 15 minutes, it added.
The accused will be produced before the court on June 16, the court directed.
ED sought an extension of remand for three more days on the ground that on 12.06.2023 during the accused's remand 17 premises were searched including the office premises of the companies wherein the accused has a financial interest or where the accused is the ultimate beneficial owner and recovered certain incriminating documents and digital records which are crucial for the purpose of investigation.
Advocate Naveen Kumar Matta Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) appeared through video conferencing and Advocate Mohd. Faizan Khan appeared and represented ED.
It was submitted that custodial interrogation of the accused is required with respect to the huge digital/ physical records, which have been seized during the searches conducted on 12.06.2023 by the Directorate under Section 17 of PMLA Act 2002.
On the last date, the agency sought an extension of remand for further investigation relating to money received from a Dalmia Family Office Trust as donation and money generated from the sale of property in Gujarat, and to record statements of other persons.
SPP had submitted that the custody of the accused is required to examine and record the statement of five more persons, to verify details of property sold in Gujarat, a jeweller of Chandni Chowk who has assisted in the layering of the cash transactions.
SPP had also submitted that it is revealed in interrogation that cash of Rs 10 crore is involved in the matter. Earlier it was Rs Six crores. He deposited the cash in a bank account through some people.
The court had granted seven days remand of the accused to the ED on June 2. He was produced through video conferencing (VC) in the last hearing.
He was arrested by the ED after interrogation in Lucknow jail. Earlier he was arrested by the UP police.
In the order of June 2, the court had noted that it revealed in the FIR of UP police that the accused portrayed himself to be close to top politicians, and ministers in India and allegedly took Rs.6 crores in the account of YREF as a donation from Dalmia Family Office Trust.
It was also submitted that the entry of the bank account has already been examined by the Local Police station and it is a matter of record that in the relevant account of that organization how much amount is lying deposited.
The Counsel for the accused submits that there is no real necessity for ED for taking the accused into police remand.
The SPP for ED had submitted that since the investigation is open-ended and required to be conducted for the purpose of confronting even the Dalmia family trust is already involved in other two matters of ED, therefore, the investigation is not confined only to the documents asserted in the examination in the investigation.
He further submitted that there is also evidence as mentioned in the application that Rs 7 crores in cash was recovered which were from unknown sources which were deposited in different accounts by the said accused to launder the money.
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