PMLA court rejects bail plea of 2 former directors of IL&FS

The enforcement directorate (ED) arrested Karunakaran, former managing director of IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL), and Saha, former joint managing director of IL&FS, arrested on June 19 for their alleged role in money laundering.

A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of arrested former directors of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) – Ramchand Karunakaran and Arun Saha. The two had approached the special PMLA court, claiming the agency missed the deadline to file a prosecution complaint against them.

Based on defence lawyers’ arguments, the registry department of the sessions court put the complaint ‘under objection’ on Friday. (HT image)

The enforcement directorate (ED) arrested Karunakaran, former managing director of IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL), and Saha, former joint managing director of IL&FS, arrested on June 19 for their alleged role in money laundering.

According to the rule, the agency has to file a prosecution complaint within 60 days of the arrest. The agency however, submitted a complaint on Friday, two days before the deadline was to end. However, the complaint was not filed with documents and statements of witnesses, which the agency was relying on.

Based on defence lawyers’ arguments, the registry department of the sessions court put the complaint ‘under objection’ on Friday.

A complaint is put under objection when the registry finds it has been filed without the relevant documents or statements of witnesses. Sunil Gonsalves, lawyer for ED, said the complaint was stuck in administration. It was further submitted that even if the documents were not annexed or the complaint was under objection, it doesn’t allow the accused to get bail, which the court accepted.