Supreme Court Issues Notice To ED On Former Bhushan Steel MD Neeraj Singal's Bail Plea In Money Laundering Case

Singhal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on June 9, last year, for his alleged involvement in a bank fraud case coupled with the offence of money laundering.

As per the allegations, Singhal has caused a public loss of more than Rs. 46,000 Crores. It is the ED's case that the petitioner, in connivance with other accused persons / business entities knowingly resorted to the illegitimate acquisition of loan funds in the name of BSL & other group companies and indulged in the laundering of proceeds of crime through a complex web of more than 150 companies having a common core i.e. ownership and control of Neeraj Singal and Bharat Bhushan.

In the beginning of this year, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Singal's plea challenging his arrest as well as his bail plea in the case.

The court observed that at the time of Singal's arrest (i.e. June 09, 2023), oral communication of the grounds of arrest was proper compliance of the provisions of Section 19(1) of the PMLA.

At the commencement of yesterday's proceedings Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Singhal submitted that no grounds of arrests were given to Singhal. Following this, the Court issued a notice returnable within three weeks.

It may also be noted that a single judge Bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan stated that the 'ground of arrest' shown to Singal at the time of his arrest ran into three pages which was signed by two independent witnesses, thereby lending credence to the same.

“For the sake of completeness it may be mentioned here that the aforesaid question now stands settled by the decision of Supreme Court in Pankaj Bansal (supra) but the directions contained therein making it mandatory for the arresting officer to communicate the grounds of arrest to the arrestee in writing, are prospective in nature,” the court said.

Case Title: NEERAJ SINGAL Versus DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT., Diary No. 15175-2024