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Money laundering case: ED gets 6 days to grill former CBI judge
Booked on April 17 by Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB), former special CBI judge Sudhir Parmar has been accused of alleged favouritism in his treatment of real estate developers Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO Group, according to the ACB’s FIR
A special court in Panchkula sent former special CBI judge Sudhir Parmar to six days custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED), while three of his relatives were named by the ED in a chargesheet filed in a money laundering case.
Parmar, who was arrested on Thursday, was produced before the court of additional district and sessions judge, Sunil Kumar, amidst tight security.
Booked on April 17 by Haryana anti-corruption bureau (ACB), he has been accused of alleged favouritism in his treatment of real estate developers Roop Bansal and his brother Basant Bansal of M3M and Lalit Goyal of IREO Group, according to the ACB’s FIR.
The ED case is linked to the corruption case registered by ACB on April 17 against Parmar, an additional sessions judge-rank judicial officer who was also holding the charge of PMLA court before he was suspended. ED had started PMLA investigations on June 13, based on the April FIR of ACB.
Based on WhatsApp chats, the FIR of the ACB claimed the Parmar demanded demand ₹5 crore to ₹7 crore for helping the M3M owners in ED cases. FIR had claimed that ₹5 crore was given to Sudhir Parmar by the accused of IREO case.
ED represented by advocate JS Lalli, deputy solicitor general of India and advocate Lokesh Narang special public prosecutor ED, had sought 14 days remand accusing him of “favoritism” and further alleging that Parmar was paid more than ₹5 crore. ED told court that during his questioning, Parmar had admitted to have met real estate developer, Roop Bansal when he had come to pay condolences on the death of Ajay Parmar’s father. ED also claimed that Sudhir Parmar had used his influence due to which Rohit Singh Tomar, a transporter gave ₹10 lakhs to Parmars’ family without any agreement.
Parmar’s counsel, Umrish Gandhi, on the other hand said that “there is not even iota of evidence against him. Parmar was not posted in Panchkula or holding the charge of special court when his nephew got an appointment in M3M company.”
The court while granting custodial interrogation of accused Sudhir Parmar observed, “there has been an unusual hike in the salary of the nephew of accused Ajay Parmar during the period when Parmar was posted as special judge ED cases, Panchkula and ED was investigating the IREO and M3M transaction for filing supplementary prosecution complaint. No exemplary performance of Ajay Parmar for M3M group is shown which may lead to such a hike in his salary. The said fact shows that his salary was hiked not on basis of merit but due to some extraneous reasons.”
ED had alleged that Ajay’s salary was hiked to ₹18 to 20 lakh.
The court also observed that an amount of ₹1.33 crore has been received in the accounts of Puspa Devi and Ajay Parmar and Paramvir Parmar from transport company owned by Rohit Tomar without any written document or security for return.
“The ₹1.33 cr did not need to be routed through multiple transactions if the same had been friendly loan because the said amount could have been deposited in one go in a single account. Hence it is also possible that the transactions are layered in order to avoid detection of some foul play,” read the order.
“The fact that whether plot in Vatika Signature Avenue sector 82, Gurugram has any relation to alleged bribe money is also to be unfolded by means of custodial interrogations,” said the order.
ED files chargesheet against 7 persons
The ED on Friday also filed chargesheet against 7 persons, including Sudhir Parmar’s sister-in- law and 2 more relatives. The chargesheet is filed against two directors of real estate company M3M India —Pankaj Bansal and his son Basant Bansal, Ajay Parmar –nephew of Sudhir Parmar, MD of IREO Group , Lalit Goyal who all have been arrested are presently lodged in jail. The chargesheet also names Rohit Singh Tomar who owns a transportation company and is relative of Parmars, Sudhir’s nephew -- Paramvir Parmar and Paramvir’s, mother Pushpa Devi. These three have already been questioned by the ED.
