Money laundering case: HC issues notice to ED on Vijay Nair’s bail plea

New Delhi, August 10

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on businessman and Aam Aadmi Party communication in-charge Vijay Nair’s plea seeking default bail in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma asked the ED to respond to the bail of Nair, who was arrested on November 13, 2022. He was refused default bail on July 29 by the trial court which said it was not the competent forum to consider the grounds of default bail and asked him to approach the same judge or bench of the high court, which had earlier dismissed his bail plea.

On behalf of Nair, senior advocate Rebecca John contended that the ED filed “piecemeal chargesheets” in the matter and the accused was thus entitled to statutory bail. The ED counsel opposed the bail plea, and said the issue of default bail has already been unsuccessfully argued by the accused in an earlier bail plea.

John said bail is a right which impacts personal liberty and on the earlier occasion, the reference to default bail was only part of the “narrative” and was never pressed as a ground for bail. Before the trial court, Nair’s counsel had contended that the supplementary chargesheet filed by ED was within the statutory period of 60 days of arrest but without actual completion of the probe.