Money Laundering Case | ‘Be fair, not vindictive…’: Supreme Court To ED, grants bail to M3M directors Basant and Pankaj Bansal
Pankaj Bansal Versus UOI
The Supreme Court has granted the bail to M3M directors Basant and Pankaj Bansal who were allegedly involved in money laundering.
A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PV Sanjay Kumar emphasised that the focus of the bail matter was solely on the legality of the arrest and remand and not the merits of the allegations.
“This reflects poorly on the ED’s style of functioning. The ED is the premier investigating agency probing money-laundering cases and their every action is expected to be transparent and fair. ED is not expected to be vindictive,” the court said.
The Haryana Police’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) detained the Bansal brothers in relation to a first information report (FIR) filed earlier this year against former Special Judge CBI/ED Sudhir Parmar.
The ED asserted that it had information indicating that Parmar was giving the accused preferential treatment in a money laundering case involving the real estate firm IREO.
Judge Parmar was suspended by the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well after the ACB filed the case.
The Bansals had moved the top court against the July 20 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had dismissed their bail pleas saying the case was quite serious in nature.
The bench, while directing the release of Pankaj and Basant Bansal, held that the ED action in arresting the two persons reeked of arbitrariness and the clandestine conduct of the ED did not warrant acceptance.
