HC bail to Pune education group's partner in Rs 46 crore ED case

PUNE: Two years after his arrest, Pune-based Rosary education group's partner Vinay Aranha walked out of Taloja central prison on Monday after Bombay high court granted him bail on March 12 in an alleged Rs 46.5 crore money laundering case being probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED), reports Asseem Shaikh.

In his order, Justice N J Jamdar said: "Supreme Court has enunciated in no uncertain terms that the absence of a real prospect of commencement and conclusion of trial in the scheduled offence and PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) offence is a decisive consideration for the grant of bail. In such a situation, the continued detention as an undertrial prisoner infringes the guarantee under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. SC has held in emphatic terms that the pristine principle that 'bail is the rule and refusal is an exception' applies even to the prosecutions under PMLA."

Aranha was released on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with a surety of like amount. He was restrained from leaving the jurisdiction of PMLA court in Greater Mumbai without prior permission. His lawyer said he had filed an application before HC to modify the bail condition and allow him to stay in Pune.

ED had arrested Aranha on March 10, 2023, on the charge of money laundering after he failed to repay a loan of Rs 46.5 crore taken from Cosmos Co-operative Bank.

ED counsel H S Venegaonkar opposed the bail plea, alleging that Aranha, with an intention to defraud the bank, availed a higher loan in the name of the Rosary group and submitted forged documents of mortgaged agricultural property to show it as non-agricultural. Aranha's lawyer argued that ED did not communicate in writing the reasons behind arresting him, as per the provisions of section 19 (power to arrest) of PMLA, because no case of money laundering was made out against him.