A single-judge bench of Justice Sarang V Kotwal on February 23 passed an order on Sashidharan's bail plea. The Bombay High Court Wednesday rejected the bail application of Marath Sashidharan, former managing director of private security firm Topsgrup Services and Solutions Ltd, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
Sashidharan was the second person to be arrested in the case after the arrest of Amit Chandole, an aide of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sarang V Kotwal on February 23 passed an order on Sashidharan’s bail plea.
The ED is investigating charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on allegations that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which gave a sub-contract to Topsgrup for providing security guards, was cheated of Rs 175 crore.
“…It is not possible to record a satisfaction that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is not guilty of such offence…Having said that the applicant (71) cannot be kept in custody for an inordinate long time…The bail application is rejected,” the court said.
The bench said the central agency can apply before the trial court for separation of Sashidharan’s trial from that of other accused and if the same is done, the trial judge should conduct it expeditiously within nine months from the separation of trial. The High Court also asked the trial court to send it a progress report every two months till conclusion of the trial and said the parties should cooperate for the expeditious trial.
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