ARUN MUTHU vs DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 4th February, 2025 Pronounced on: 20th February, 2025 + BAIL APPLN. 1821/2024 ARUN MUTHU .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Naveen Malhotra & Mr. Ritvik Malhotra, Advs. versus DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT .....Respondent Through: Mr. Manish Jain, Special Counsel for ED with Ms. Sougata Ganguly, Mr. Snehal Sharda & Mr. Gulnaz Khan, Advs. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT SHARMA JUDGMENT AMIT SHARMA, J. 1. The present application under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, ‘Cr.P.C.’) read with Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (for short, ‘PMLA’) seeks regular bail in CC No. 123/2021 (ECIR/DLZO-II/54/2021) under Section 3/4 of the PMLA. Signature Not Verified BAIL APPLN. 1821/2024 Digitally Signed By:BHASKAR SINGH RAWAT Page 1 of 31 Signing Date:20.02.2025 19:18:38 2. The brief facts as detailed in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent are as under: - “5.1 That a letter dated 14.06.2020 was received from Directorate of Enforcement, Delhi Zone-I, informing that Amarendra Dhari Singh has made certain financial transactions with Aditi Shivender Singh. As the matter of Religare Finvest Limited was being investigated vide ECIR/DLZO-II/05/20 I 9 by Directorate of Enforcement, Delhi Zone- II, the same was transmitted to Delhi Zone-II for further necessary action. 5.2 On 17.06.2021, Aditi Singh was summoned and her statement was recorded u/s 50 of PMLA in ECIR/DLZO-II/05/2019 and during her statement she tendered her Iphone X, which was sent to DFS, Gandhinagar for forensic analysis on 18. 06.2021. On analysis of call data records (CDR), it was revealed that CDR contained multiple calls from various numbers belonging to Union Government offices and Ministries of th