HC gives bail to bizman Mittal in note ban money laundering case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a businessman, who was in custody of the Enforcement Directorate since June 2017 in connection with a post-demonetisation money laundering case.

Justice Mukta Gupta also held the custody of accused Yogesh Mittal as illegal from August 11-31, 2017.

The high court released Mittal on bail on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh with two sureties of the like amount, subject to the satisfaction of the Special Court.

Mittal, who was in the ED custody since his arrest on June 5 for the offence of money laundering, had sought regular bail.

The court, while granting him the relief, imposed certain conditions including that he will surrender his passport to the ED and not leave the country without the court’s nod.

Besides, the court also directed Mittal not to contact any of the witnesses cited by the prosecution or in any manner interfere with the further investigation and/or fair progress of the trial.

It also said that in case of change of residential address of Mittal, the same will be intimated to the court concerned by way of an affidavit.

The ED had arrested him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged role in the illegal conversion of demonetised notes worth ₹51 crore in “connivance” with lawyer Rohit Tandon, a suspended Kotak Mahindra bank manager and another person who acted as illegal fund router. In his bail plea, Mittal had claimed that his arrest was illegal as he had already joined the investigation and appeared before the ED on 10 occasions.

He had also contended that he was not named in any scheduled offence listed in the PMLA for him to be arrested under this law.

It was alleged by the ED that Mittal was “instrumental in picking up Tandon’s demonetised cash on November 14-19 last year and depositing it in various bank accounts of shell companies.”