Supreme Court rejects ED's Plea challenging Bail Granted to Ex Mumbai Police Chief Sanjay Pandey

The Supreme Court on Monday heard the appeal of the Directorate of Enforcement against the Delhi High Court order granting bail to former Mumbai police chief Sanjay Pandey in a money laundering case. 

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ahsanuddin Amanullah refused to interfere with the High Court order, while clarifying that the trial court shall not be influenced by the observations made in the order under challenge.

Advocate Rahul Kamerkar represented Pandey, who is facing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter. He had earlier been denied bail by a special court in August last year, which was overturned by the High Court later.

The Delhi High Court had in its December 2022 judgment granted bail to Pandey, after observing that though, prima facie, the offences alleged violate the Telegraph Act, the same was not a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court had added that even the offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Information Technology (IT) and the Prevention of Corruption Act were not made out against Pandey.

The High Court had noted that tapping phone lines and recording calls without consent is a breach of privacy. 

This was in reference to the ED’s allegations that Pandey had illegally tapped the phones of National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees. The Court had also held that the ED had failed to make out a prima facie case against Pandey for money laundering.