Ex-chairman of BPSL gets bail in fraud case

In its charge sheet filed last Friday through its special prosecutor Nitesh Rana, the anti-money laundering agency had called Singal the mastermind behind diversion of majority of loans – worth ₹47,204 crore – taken from 33 banks between 2007 and 2014.

Within a week of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filing a charge sheet against him, accusing him of laundering over ₹4,000 crore, former chairman and MD of Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd, Sanjay Singal, was granted bail by a special CBI court on Friday.

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In its charge sheet filed last Friday through its special prosecutor Nitesh Rana, the anti-money laundering agency had called Singal the mastermind behind diversion of majority of loans – worth ₹47,204 crore – taken from 33 banks between 2007 and 2014. It had identified and attached a property worth ₹132 at London’s One Hyde Park and another worth ₹74 crore in Delhi’s Jor Bagh.

Singal’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal, who has earlier successfully secured bail for Ratul Puri and retired Odisha high court judge I M Quddusi in CBI and ED probes, argued before the court that “Sanjay Singal has deep roots in the society” and that “Singal is yet to be called by CBI for questioning in the matter, however, without any scheduled offence being established, the ED has arrested him”.

Aggarwal also cited recent bail given to former finance minister P Chidambaram in the INX Media case by the Supreme Court on the ground that “pendency of further investigation (as claimed by ED) is not a relevant factor (in denying bail)”. He also pointed out that while ED has chargesheeted 25 persons in the case, only Singal was arrested by it (on November 22, 2019).

Rana opposed the contention stating that Singal has remained evasive and didn’t cooperate with the investigation.

After hearing both the sides, special CBI judge Arun Bhardwaj ordered the bail while asking Singal to submit his passport with the court and not to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses in the case.