Calcutta High Court Rejects Former Minister Sujit Bose’s Bail Plea in Money Laundering Case

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed former West Bengal minister Sujit Bose’s bail application in a money laundering case associated with the alleged South Dum Dum municipality recruitment scam.

Justice Tithankar Ghosh stated that Bose has not fulfilled any of the prerequisite conditions necessary for entitlement of bail as laid down under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Court added that no ground exists to believe that the accused is not guilty and would not commit any other offence while on bail. “He cannot be released on bail merely because the prosecution’ complaint stands filed and the trial court has taken cognizance in the matter. The Central Bureau of Investigation has also filed further investigation after intimating the Learned Special Court in terms of receipt of information by the Enforcement Directorate. A vital stage of investigation is in progress.”, the Court said in an order.

As reported earlier, ED had informed the HC that recommendations for various illegal municipal recruitments were received from Bose and other “politically exposed persons”.

Senior Advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Bose had submitted that the respondent always cooperated with the Enforcement Directorate when summoned and was arrested three years after the registration of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR). Senior Advocate Singhvi further contended that the delay in arrest was enough to disprove any possibility of need for custodial interrogation, flight risk or tampering.

Appearing for the ED, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted that Bose laundered nearly ₹20.40 crore through multiple accounts including ones owned by him and members of his family.

It was submitted that digital records that were seized from multiple sources along with data on recruitment, property deals, cash deposits, shareholding, distribution of payments speak for itself generation and laundering of proceeds of crime by the accused.

Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sabyasachi Banerjee with Advocate Kuldeep Rai, Dhananjoy Kumar, Mihir Joshi, Aditya Singh Chauhan, Nahid Ahmed, Pragya Banerjee and Aishwariya Mishra appeared for the accused.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju with ASG Dhiraj Trivedi, Senior Advocate Zoheb Hossain and Advocates Adil Rashid, Samrat Goswami, Snigdha Ghosh, Aparna Sarkar, Aaryan Bansal and Shivam Singh appeared for the Enforcement Directorate.