NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging the six weeks interim bail granted to businessman Sameer Mahendru in a money laundering case arising out of alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
Expressing its disinclination with regards to entertaining the plea, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi said, “For 6 weeks bail, we won’t interfere. It’s going to run itself out in 2 weeks. We are not inclined to interfere with the judgement. We dismiss the plea and leave the question of law open.”
ASG SV Raju for ED submitted that the Delhi High Court order is “shocking” and is based on wrong facts and cannot be treated as a precedent and said, “The order is bad. The regular court doesn’t extend bail and in May medical board is constituted. The period was truncated.”
Delhi HC granted Mahendru interim bail on June 12 by imposing several conditions on account of his suffering from life-threatening diseases. The high court had observed that the accused was suffering from life-threatening diseases warranting immediate medical attention and post-operative care. Justice Chandra Dhari Singh in the 31-page judgement said, “Every person has a right to get adequately and effectively treated. The exercise of discretion of the grant of bail is not to be exercised only as a last resort; rather freedom is a cherished fundamental right.”
The bench while granting bail had also taken into consideration the fact that he was granted bail previously too by the trial court on two occasions. The court, however, directed him to surrender before the trial court on July 25. The court had imposed several conditions, including that he shall not leave the limits of the hospital and his house and shall also not leave the country. The government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
