New Delhi [India], November 13 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted regular bail to Jawed Imam Siddiqui, an accused in the Delhi Waqf Board Money laundering case in which Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanat Ullah Khan has also been charge sheeted.
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri granted bail to Siddiqui on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety in the like amount.
The High Court said that the applicant has been in custody since November 11, 2023, and the trial has been stuck at the stage of supply of documents under Section 207 CrPC.
"Liberty of an accused cannot be curtailed by Section 45 without taking all other germane considerations into account," Justice Ohri said while granting bail.
This case is linked with the purchase of property worth Rs 36 crores in Okhla allegedly at the behest of AAP MLA Khan
The court noted that the investigation was initiated in the year 2022 and the prosecution has named 5 accused persons and cited 28 witnesses. There are 4000 pages of documents which need to be analysed.
Justice Ohri said, "In a situation such as the present case, where there are multiple accused persons, thousands of pages of evidence to assess, a large number of witnesses to be examined, the trial is not expected to end anytime in the near future and the delay is not attributable to the accused, keeping the accused in custody by using Section 45 PMLA a tool for incarceration or as a shackle is not permissible. "
The High Court pointed out that it is also pertinent to bear in mind while dealing with the cases under the PMLA that, except in a few exceptional cases, the maximum sentence can be seven
years.
"The accused in a money laundering case cannot be equated with those punishable with death, imprisonment for life, ten years or more like offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, murder, cases of rape, dacoity, etc," Justice Ohri held.
Jawed Imam Siddiqui had sought a regular bail in the matter.
Advocate Manu Sharma alongwith Arjun Kakkar appeared for Siddiqui. It was contended that the applicant is an Indian passport holder who has been working and residing in Dubai with his wife and three children since 2007.
It was submitted that Siddiqui made investments in India by purchasing properties by law. The properties in question were purchased by the applicant in the name of his wife on April 12, 2019, from Syed Ahmed Raza Zaidi and Samina Zaidi, Heba Zaidi Khosla and Aashti
Zaidi for around 10.76 Crore rupees.
The funding for the said purchase was arranged by the applicant by selling his two other properties through sale deeds of December 9, 2017, and February 20, 2018, for Rs 2.29 crore and 3.70 crore rupees.
Out of the said amount, the purchasers had paid Rs 9,14,30,000 through banking channels and the rest of the consideration amount was deposited in the accounts of the applicant and his wife by cash by their property dealer Kauser Imam Siddique alias Laddan, the counsel argued.
It was further argued that before his arrest, the applicant had joined the investigation on 15 occasions between February 15, 2023, to November 10, 2023. He stated that the applicant has been in custody since November 11, 2023, and the trial has been stuck at the stage of supply of documents.
It was submitted that there are 28 witnesses and over 4000 pages of documents which are required to be gone through. The trial would inevitably take a long time affecting the applicant's right to life and liberty.
Advocate Akanksha Kaul submitted that despite the applicant not evading investigation at any stage, a Look Out Circular was issued against him on July 26, 2023. This LOC was quashed by the Trial Court on November 08, 2023, and just three days thereafter, on November 11, 2023, the applicant was arrested by the respondent agency.
On the other hand, the bail plea was opposed by ED. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Manish Jain submitted that the applicant was a knowing recipient of part of the proceeds of crime
derived from the criminal activity of the main accused and was involved in the laundering of the proceeds of crime through investments in immovable property along with the co-accused, namely, Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir, and Kauser Imam Siddiqui.
He further submitted that out of the Rs 36 crore, around 9 crore rupees have been given
in the form of cheques and the remaining amount of Rs 27 crore is nothing but the proceeds of crime which have been given in cash to the applicant.
A copy of an agreement to sell was found in the phone seized from co-accused Zeeshan showing the consideration amount to be Rs 36 crores. The said agreement is stated to be witnessed by Kauser, who is a co-accused and Waqar, who is not traceable, ED argued.