The Supreme Court will continue hearing on Wednesday on a petition filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) against the Jharkhand High Court order, which granted bail to Dilip Ghosh, accused in the a land scam case of Ranchi.
As per the investigating agency, Kolkata-based Ghosh, as Director of Jagatbandhu Tea Estate Private Limited, bought 4.55 acres of land at Bariatu Road in Ranchi undervalued for Rs 7 crore, which actually had a value of Rs 20 crore.
ED said the possession of the property was alleged to be a subject matter of ongoing litigation with the Indian Army.
The accused argued that the grounds of arrest were not given to him in writing and therefore, the judgment of Pankaj Bansal should apply.
In Pankaj Bansal, the Supreme Court held that the mandate of Section 19 requires that the grounds of arrest must be furnished in writing.
The High Court held that the directions of Pankaj Bansal may be meant for future cases but it could not be construed that it would not affect the cases in which the arrest has been done without service of grounds for arrest.
The High Court held that the accused shall be enlarged on bail. It further recorded in its order that the allegations of ED showed ‘reason to suspect’ that the accused was involved in the larger conspiracy of money laundering and forgery of sale deeds. Whereas, Section 19 PMLA required ‘reason to believe’.
On June 7, 2023, ED had arrested businessman Amit Agrawal and Ghosh from Kolkata in connection with the land scam case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).