Bail for Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s wife in ED case; not in MCOCA case: Delhi HC

Paulose, however, will remain in jail as the bench of Justice Prateek Jalan rejected her bail plea in case registered by the Delhi Police under the MCOCA

The Delhi high court on Tuesday granted bail to Leena Paulose, wife of alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the ₹200 crore extortion case.

A detailed copy of the verdict is awaited. (PTI)

Paulose, however, will remain in jail as the bench of Justice Prateek Jalan rejected her bail plea in case registered by the Delhi Police under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

“I have rejected the bail under MCOCA but granted bail under the PMLA,” justice Jalan said while pronouncing the verdict.

A detailed copy of the verdict is awaited.

The Delhi police special cell in 2021 registered a First Information Report (FIR) under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including impersonation, extortion, cheating, criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, obstruction of public servants, forgery, use of forged documents, and criminal conspiracy, under section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for cheating by personation using computer resources, and sections 3/4 of MCOCA, 1999, for allegedly duping the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh of ₹200 crore.

Chandrasekhar and his associates allegedly duped the women by impersonating government officials and assuring her of arranging bail for her husband.

Reports indicate that Chandrasekhar, while lodged in Rohini jail, made spoof calls posing as a central government official and persuaded her to transfer money.

The Delhi police alleged that Paulose and Chandrashekhar along with others used hawala routes and created shell companies to park the money earned from the proceeds of the crime.

The ED had also registered a money laundering case.

In her 2024 petition, filed through her counsel Anant Malik, Paulose submitted that she has been in custody since September 2021 and has already undergone over three years of incarceration under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

She argued that the trial has been delayed and that the stringent conditions of section 45 of the Act would not apply to her, because she is a woman.

The petitions were opposed by the ED and Delhi police, represented by special counsel Zoheb Hossain along with panel counsel Vivek Gurnani and special public prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh, respectively.