New Delhi: A Delhi court has refused to grant bail to Nitin Bhatnagar, one of the key accused in the money laundering case relating to Moser Baer India Ltd.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Bhatnagar on August 22.
Special Judge Raghubir Singh of Rouse Avenue Court said that no grounds were met for grant of bail and dimissed the application.
Bhatnagar’s counsel argued that his arrest was not legal, as there was no permission to further investigate the case. It was argued that Bhatnagar was neither named in the FIR nor in the ECIR of the ED case, and his name did not appear in the prosecution complaints.
It was further mentioned that Bhatnagar had cooperated with the investigation, attending 25 consecutive investigative sessions from January 2020.
The ED had even officially removed the LOC (Lookout Circular) issued against him in 2022, the court was apprised.
However, the LOC was revived on August 14 and Bhatnagar was arrested at the airport on August 22, as he was about to board a flight to return home.
Bhatnagar’s counsel expressed concerns about the timing and intent behind the ED’s actions despite his full cooperation.
On the other hand, the ED opposed the bail plea, citing ongoing investigations and the potential for Bhatnagar to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses. Concerns about his status as a foreign national and the possibility of him fleeing from justice were also stated.
Bhatnagar is reportedly a private banker and founder of Ellington Properties. He has been accused of doing hawala transactions for the co-accused.
Earlier, sources had said that he was trying to flee abroad when they arrested him from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Bhatnagar is said to be having connections with Ratul Puri and Rajiv Saxena.
“In the narration of the application in hand, it appears that in 2012, a bank account in the name of Pristine River Investments Ltd, was opened with Bank of Singapore and Nitin Bhatnagar facilitated the same being the Relationship Manager. The said company was owned by the Savannah Trust of which Ratul Puri (one of the co-accused) was the settler while John Docherty and Milan Morjaria were the protectors. Therein were received from M/s UHY Saxena, M/s Mercon Como & M/s Midas Metals which were managed and controlled by Rajiv Saxena (one of the co-accused),” said the order copy accessed by IANS earlier.
It further read that those amounts have been said to be alleged proceeds of crime in the hands of co-accused Rajiv Saxena, and the bank account in the name of Pristine River Investments Ltd, has allegedly been used for the layering of proceeds of crime and Bhatnagar knowingly assisted in doing so for Puri.
–IANS
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