Judge Bribery Scandal: ED denied custody of IREO group’s MD
Chandigarh, July 11
A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Special Court, Panchkula, today declined the Enforcement Directorate (ED) the custody of Lalit Goyal, MD of the IREO group, in the judge bribery scandal.
Goyal was produced before the court around 4.15 pm and the hearing ended at 8 pm. He was sent to judicial custody. Earlier, the court had remanded him to two-day custody on July 5 and then in four-day custody on July 7. During the hearing, Goyal complained that in violation of the previous order, he was not allowed to meet his family members and lawyers. His lawyer also submitted that he was in poor health and that medical facility was not fully provided to him.
The ED told the PMLA court that Goyal destroyed the evidence by deleting data, chats and messages from his phone. Seeking an eight-day remand of Goyal, the investigating agency submitted that during the custodial interrogation, the accused was queried about the phone numbers and mobile sets he had been using, but he didn’t respond.
“According to the investigations by the directorate, the accused used three phones from April 2022 to till date. One phone has been impounded. The prima facie verification of the phone shows that the data, chats and messages have been deleted. The refusal to answer the queries related to the phone and the non-availability of data in the phone impounded shows that the accused deliberately destructed evidence from time to time,” said the ED.
In the case of Ajay Parmar, nephew of Suspended Judge Sudhir Parmar, the ED told the court that it relied not on the evidence quoted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Haryana, in the FIR, but on money laundering in the judge bribery scandal.
The central agency submitted that the arrest and remand of the accused were based on the evidence collected by it on investigations related to money laundering within the meaning of Section 3 of the PMLA.
In reply to an application of accused Ajay Parmar for placing on record the WhatsApp chats and phone recordings before the court, the ED said, “The accused may seek the evidence available with the ACB directly. The offence being investigated by the ED is a separate offence under the PMLA and is distinct from the offence being investigated by the ACB…”
The ACB, Haryana, registered the FIR against the then Special CBI/PMLA Judge Sudhir Parmar, his nephew Ajay Parmar and one of the promoters of the M3M group Roop Bansal, for allegedly showing favour to Goyal and the M3M owners in an ongoing ED case of siphoning off homebuyers’ funds on April 17. Based on the FIR, the ED started looking into money laundering allegations and registered a case on June 13.
