CBI court seeks ED response on Gautam Khaitan's second bail plea

NEW DELHI: A special CBI court on Tuesday sought a reply from the Enforcement Directorate over the second bail plea filed by lawyer-cum-businessman Gautam Khaitan in connection with a money laundering case.

Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar after directing the agency to file a response on the plea, slated the matter for April 9.

Khaitan has sought bail for the second time contending that the investigation in the case in over.

"The ED has averred in the complaint that further investigation is going on (though there is no provision in law to conduct further investigation in a complaint case), and LR will be issued to foreign countries. In these circumstances there is no likelihood of conclusion of trial in near future," the bail plea said.

The plea further stated that the documents proposed to be relied upon by the Enforcement Directorate in the present case have already been filed before the court as a result of which there is no chance or possibility of tampering with the evidence.

Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey is representing the lawyer-cum-businessman while Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh is appearing for the Enforcement Directorate

The court was hearing the second bail plea filed by Khaitan, who is currently in the judicial custody. Earlier, Khaitan had filed a bail application in February wherein he stated the detail facts of the case, but later, the court dismissed the plea citing that it has no sufficient grounds.

The agency on March 25 filed a 1500-page charge sheet (prosecution complaint) against Khaitan in connection with the case.

The charge sheet was filed before Special Judge Kumar under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

In its charge sheet, the ED alleged that Khaitan deposited a huge amount of money in offshore accounts. He has also been accused of holding bank accounts abroad and having Rs 6000 crore which he didn't disclose in his income tax return.