Unitech Case : Supreme Court Allows Interim Bail To Preeti Chandra To Attend Last Rites Of Grandmother

The Supreme Court on Friday granted one day interim bail to Preeti Chandra, wife of Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra, on account of the demise of her maternal grandmother on March 14, 2022.

The bench of Justice(s) DY Chandrachud and MR Shah has granted interim bail to Preeti Chandra to proceed to a designated place between 10:00AM and 3:00 PM either on March 26, 2022 or April 5, 2022 and return back to jail on the same day after ceremonies are conducted.

The bail has been granted subject to the following conditions stringent conditions:

• The applicant shall be allowed to proceed form Tihar Jail to designated place b/w 10: AM & 3:00 PM and shall return back to jail on the same day after ceremonies are conducted
• Applicant shall in advance furnish to the IO the address of the palace where she has to proceed
• Prior to departure of applicant, Dominica or any other passport if any be surrendered to the IO
• Applicant shall be escorted under police escort with 4 min personnel from Delhi Police or ED under the supervision of inspector of police
• During the period of departure from and return to, applicants shall not be permitted to use cell phones and access documents or papers.
• Permission for only one day namely either tomorrow March 26, 2022 or April 5, 2022 at the option of applicant intimated to the IO in advance Applicant shall not visit any other place for the purpose
• Expenditure in connection with the Police shall be deposited in advance by the applicant to the ED.

Appearing for Preeti Chandra, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave had submitted that Chandra had acquired the citizenship of Dominica Republic on April 11, 2016 and that she had traveled on the Dominican Passport 30 times. He further submitted that between March 10, 2021 & 4 oct 2021 when the applicant was under interrogation she had cooperated in the investigation, though she had traveled abroad she was ready to return. It was also submitted by Senior Counsel that the applicant was ready to surrender the passport and that chargesheet has been filed. Requesting the Court to grant the bail, he submitted that the applicant did not pose any flight risk.

Objecting to the application for interim bail, ASG Madhvi Divan for ED submitted that the applicant has relied on the certificate issued at the place of cremation without formal death certificate and when attempt was made to verify relationship of applicant with deceased no details could emerge. She further submitted that Preeti Chandra had acquired Dominica passport and its significant that there is no extradition treaty.

"Applicant was palace dunder arrest on March 10, 2021, the applicant attempted to flea the Indian territory and was prevented from doing so in view of look out circular," ASG further submitted.

It was also her contention that the offsprings have US passport and that she has substantial assets abroad and has been participant in dealing with transactions of Unitech group. In this regards she further submitted that she was also an active participant with regards to the operations from UAE of Trikar Gorp in respect of which investigation is pending, transaction involving Cayman Islands.

She also drew Court's attention the the fact that Preeti Chandra's regular bail was dismissed as withdrawn and that she had even played a role in undermining the Jail Authority at Tihar Jail.

Preeti Chandra was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in October 2021 under the PMLA Act, 2002 and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

It may be noted that the Chandra brothers are currently lodged in Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai and Taloja Jail, to be housed separately after in a money laundering case involving Unitech company. Earlier they were lodged in Tihar but were shifted to Arthur and Taloja jail after an enquiry report of the Enforcement Directorate revealed that they had been engaging in several illegal activities within Tihar jail with the connivance of certain officials.

Case Title: Bhupinder Singh v Unitech

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