Damocles Sword Can't Be Hanged Over Accused's Head Merely On Assumption That Proceeds Of Crime May Be Higher: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that while considering bail, damocles sword cannot be allowed to hang over the accused's head merely on the assumption that the proceeds of crime may be higher.

Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar made the observation while granting anticipatory bail to a man in connection with a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate, related to the alleged fertilizers scam.

"Merely on the assumption of the respondent that till date what has been uncovered is may be the tip of the iceberg and the proceeds of the crime may be much higher, damocles sword cannot be allowed to hang over the head of the petitioner when there are no allegations against him of threatening any witness in the investigation and as far as the factual matrix is concerned, those are matter of trial," the Court said.

CBI had registered a case on 17th May 2021 under Sections 120B, 420 IPC and Sections 13(1)(d) r/w Sec. 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Singh and other accused persons.

It was alleged that the accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy from 2007 to 2014 and cheated and defrauded IFFCO and Indian Potash Limited (IPL), its shareholders and the Government of India by allegedly and fraudulently importing fertilizers and other materials for fertilizer production at inflated prices by claiming higher subsidy from Government of India causing loss of several crores of rupees.

It was also alleged that they had siphoned off the commission received from the suppliers through a complex web of fake commercial transactions through multiple companies owned by the accused persons, registered outside India in order to camouflage the fraudulent transactions.

In August, the Court had granted bail to RJD Rajya Sabha MP Amrendra Dhari Singh in the matter. 

It was thus the applicant's case that he has apprehension of his arrest as he is one of the directors of M/s Alankit Limited which had been arrayed as an accused in the case.

He also submitted that during the course of investigation, he had joined the investigation more than 20 times and had co-operated in the investigation by providing all the information and documents as per his knowledge. 

"The statements of the witnesses U/s 50 of PMLA have already been recorded and there is only an apprehension that the petitioner would tamper with the evidence or threaten the witnesses but till date nothing has been placed on record to show that any such attempt has been made by the petitioner in this regard and there appears to be only an apprehension in this regard," the Court said.

The Court also noted that other co-accused were already released on regular bail along with the fact that there was nothing to show that as to for what purpose, the custodial interrogation of the applicant was required.

Accordingly, bail was granted by the Court.

Case Title: ANKIT AGARWAL v. DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

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