Orissa Chit Fund Scam: Supreme Court Issues Notice In Bail Plea Of Accused Mohd Arif

A bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Hima Kohli has tagged the matter with another bail plea filed by disabled actor Mohd Naseer who's also an accused in the same case.

The accused in the case have been charged for allegedly cheating and siphoning of monies in the name of chit fund schemes.

The present petitioner Arif has been charged with offences under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Chit Funds Act.

The bench was considering a special leave petition filed by Arif challenging the final order Orissa High Court's order dismissing his bail plea.

The petitioner has contended that he was released on interim bail for a month on account of his wife's death on 10.01.2022 and he had duly complied with all the conditions and had surrendered within a month as was directed by the Hon'ble High Court.

The petitioner claims that he was arrested without any notice under section 50 of PMLA after two and half years of filing the charge-sheet which is totally against law laid down by the Supreme Court.

He argues that when two charge-sheets have already been filed there can be hardly a case for tampering of evidence or, influencing witnesses in the trial.

The petitioner was represented through Senior Advocate Malvika Trivedi, Advocates Swarnendu Chatterjee, Himanshu Nailwal and Yashwardhan Singh.

Case Title: Mohammad Arif v Enforcement Directorate