Mumbai: The special CBI court has granted bail to Sandeep Singh, an assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who was caught red-handed accepting Rs 20 lakh from a Mumbai-based jeweller. Singh was leading a search team that was probing the jeweller in a money laundering case. Singh was granted bail after the CBI submitted a chargesheet against him.
Observation Made By The Court
While granting bail, the court observed that the investigation had been completed and the chargesheet had been filed. The court further observed, “The accused is already under suspension after his transfer to another department; therefore, the CBI’s objection that he may pressurise the prosecution witness has no legal force. No purpose would be served by keeping him behind bars.”
As per the prosecution case, the ED initiated a probe against Tanvi Gold Pvt Ltd and came across several transactions with M/s VS Gold owned by Vipul Thakkar, the complainant.
ED Carries Out Searches At Premises Of VS Gold
The ED carried out searches at the premises of VS Gold, including Thakkar’s house in Prabhadevi on August 2-3, where Singh and ED official Alok Jha allegedly threatened the family. Jha then asked Thakkar to speak to Singh to save his son Nihar from being implicated.
The CBI claimed that Singh had demanded Rs 25 lakh but settled at Rs 20 lakh. He took Thakkar’s daughter Nupur’s phone number and called her on August 5. On WhatsApp, he set the place and time to send the money through an angadia, sharing the number of a Rs20 currency note as a code.
