Supreme Court Refuses To Grant Ex-Parte Interim Bail To AAP Punjab MLA Jaswant Singh To Campaign For Lok Sabha Polls

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 29) refused to grant ex-parte interim bail to AAP Punjab MLA Jaswant Singh to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

The Vacation Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Aravind Kumar heard AAP MLA's plea challenging the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which upheld his arrest by ED for allegedly being a director and guarantor of a company M/s TCL, which had obtained loan and credit facilities of over Rs.46 crores.

The amount is alleged to have been diverted to other companies, contrary to the terms and conditions of extending the credit facilities. A sum of Rs.3.12 crores is also stated to have been diverted into the personal account of the AAP leader.

Sr. Adv. Vikram Chaudhary appearing for Singh sought ex-parte interim bail for Singh till June 4 on account of ongoing Lok Sabha Polls, where the voting is scheduled to happen on the thirteen Lok Sabha Constituencies in the State of Punjab on June 1.

The Court was not inclined to grant relief of interim bail to AAP MLA noting that no such relief could be granted without hearing the opposite parties.

However, notices have been issued to the Respondents/Union of India and Directorate of Enforcement to be returnable within one week.

Background

Jaswant Singh was booked under PMLA for allegedly being a director and guarantor of a company M/s TCL, which had obtained loan and credit facilities of over Rs.46 crores.

The amount is alleged to have been diverted to other companies, contrary to the terms and conditions of extending the credit facilities. A sum of Rs.3.12 crores is also stated to have been diverted into the personal account of the AAP leader.

The account of M/s TCL was declared as fraud on 09.02.2018 on the basis of a forensic audit report, and the matter was reported to RBI. The petitioner had been issued a summons to join the investigation on several occasions but he did not appear before the investigating agency. Singh was arrested by ED in November, 2023.

Challenging his arrest by ED, Singh had moved Punjab & Haryana High Court, where he had contended that the material in possession against him, including the memo of arrest and the grounds of arrest had been sent to the Adjudicating Authority two days after the arrest whereas it should have been sent immediately.

While dismissing Singh's petition, the High Court held that under Section 19 (2) of PMLA, it is nowhere specified that the material should be sent on the day of arrest as the term used is "immediately after arrest".

"...it is not specified that information has to be sent on the day the arrest is effected. Therefore, we do not find any illegality in the same being sent to the Adjudicating Authority a day after. Even if it has been sent after 02 days, it could not be said that the provisions of Section 19(2) of the PMLA have not been complied with.", the High Court opined.

Sr. Adv. Vikram Chaudhary and AoR Nikhil Jain appeared for the Petitioner-Jaswant Singh

Case Title: JASWANT SINGH Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 7755/2024