Land For Jobs Scam: Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Lalu Yadav's Aide Amit Katyal In PMLA Case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's close aide Amit Katyal in a money laundering case related to the alleged land-for-jobs scam case.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed that the investigations qua Katyal already stood concluded and the Prosecution Complaint was also filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“He is in judicial custody since 10.11.2023. The trial may take long to get concluded. No purpose for his further detention in judicial custody has been made out,” the court said.

It added that Katyal was not a flight risk, has all throughout been joining the investigations and at no point of time tried to evade the summons or to join the probe.

“There has been no endeavour him to tamper with the evidence which is essentially documentary in nature or to influence the witnesses. The Triple Test for grant of bail is, therefore, satisfied by him,” the court said.

ED alleged that Katyal had purchased the land parcel worth Rs. 10.83 lakhs which he transferred subsequently to the other main accused persons and that the value of the land parcel was much more than its purchase value.

Justice Krishna noted that there were 14 main accused persons who were MPs, MLAs or beneficiaries, but none of them were arrested, except Katyal.

The court said that the role assigned to Katyal was only of acquiring the land parcel worth Rs. 10.83 lakhs and the subsequent transfer of the company to Rabri Devi and Tejaswi Yadav in 2014 for a meagre amount of Rs. 1 crore.

“Even if it is accepted as has been contended by the respondent, that the value of the land parcel was 3-4 times more than the value reflected but then too, it would be less than Rs. 1,00,00,000/-. The case of the petitioner is covered by the proviso thereby exempting him from satisfying the twin conditions under Section 45 of PMLA, 2002 for grant of bail,” the court said.

However, the court rejected Katyal's argument that he cannot be made an accused under PMLA, 2002, observing that the money laundering offence was based on independent evidence with no reference to his statements in the predicate offence.

“Merely because those persons against whom the predicate offence has been registered, are also an accused under PMLA case would not in any way dilute or impact the involvement of the present petitioner whose role essentially has been determined to be in laundering the proceeds of crime. The argument, therefore, as projected by the petitioner, is not tenable,” it added.

Counsel for Petitioner: Ms. Geeta Luthra & Mr. Vikas Pahwa, Sr. Advocates with Ms. Bina Gupta, Mr. Gurpreet Singh, Mr. Bakul Jain, Mr. Jatin S. Sethi, Ms. Namisha Jain, Ms. Nancy Shamim, Ms. Aakansha, Ms. Sheena Tauqli, Mr. Aadarsh Kothari, Mr. Manit Walia, Mr. Shivam Bansal, Ms. Aayushee Gautam & Mr. Rishabh Dahiya, Advocates

Counsel for ED: Mr. Zoheh Hossain & Mr. Manish Jain, Special Counsel, Mr. Vivek Gurnani, Panel Counsel, Mr. Vivek Guurav, Mr. Kanishk Maurya, Mr. Pranjal Tripathi & Mr. Kartik Sabharwal, Advocates

Title: AMIT KATYAL v. DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1024

Click Here To Read Order