A Delhi Court has granted bail to accused Pradeep Ramdanee, (one caught in a trap collecting money from Aditi Singh) in 200 crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh in an order passed last week said that considering the circumstances and the period of incarceration, the bail application of the applicant Pradeep Ramdanee is allowed. Ramdanee is admitted to bail after furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.1,00,000 with one surety of like amount, to the satisfaction of this court.
According to the court, Enforcement Directorate said that the investigation of the crime is still in progress and the role of the accused may further emerge. However, merely because the ED hopes to find something against this accused, the applicant cannot be kept in custody. "Neither the basis of such hope is stated, nor it has been shown from any case diary that there is an investigation in the direction which further show the role of this accused," the court noted.
Pradeep Ramdanee was represented by advocates Anant Malik, Rohan Yadav and Rashi Rampal in the case. Advocates Atul Tripathi and Mohammad Faraz, Special Public Prosecutors along with R. K. Shah, appeared for ED.
According to Pradeep Ramdanee's bail plea, it was submitted that he had no knowledge about the alleged illegal activities of alleged kingpin Sukesh Chandrashekar or that his brother was involved in any illegal activity. In absence of such knowledge, the allegation against the applicant lacks essential elements of the crime. Prima facie no case of money laundering is made out against the applicant and the only allegation against him is of being a delivery person.
Nothing incriminating has been recovered from or at the instance of the applicant. It is further submitted that all the evidence is in documentary form and thus, there is no apprehension of the applicant's tampering with the evidence or influencing the witnesses, as stated bail plea.
Patiala House Court took cognizance of the Enforcement Directorate's Chargesheet in December 2021. The Chargesheet was filed by ED against eight accused naming conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, Leena Maria Paul, Deepak Ramnani, Pradeep Ramnani, Kamlesh Kothari, Avtar Singh Kochhar and two others.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial probe agency, had arrested several accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the extortion racket which was being run from a Delhi jail.
According to ED, during the investigation, searches were conducted at various places linked to Sukesh Chandrashekar and his associates. During the search, 16 high-end vehicles were seized under section 17 PMLA and these cars are either in the name of firms of Leena Paulose or in the name of third parties. It is further submitted that it has emerged that Sukesh knowingly created the structure for layering and transferring proceeds of crime and thus, actively participated in the process of money laundering.
Sukesh and Leena Maria Paul along with several others accused were earlier arrested by Delhi Police. The police had also invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.
Delhi Police had alleged that Leena, Sukesh with others used Hawala routes, and created Shell companies to park the money earned from proceeds of crime. Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had registered an FIR against Chandrasekhar for allegedly duping the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh, and Malvinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore besides ongoing investigations against him in several cases across the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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