The observations were made by Judge MG Deshpande, special judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), while hearing an application by an accused seeking relaxation of bail condition so that he can travel abroad for professional purposes.
Advocate Sunil Gonsalves, special prosecutor for Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposed the application contending that acceding to such a request would give rise to a situation like ‘Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi’.
To this, the judge quipped that persons like the three fugitive businessmen were able to flee India because of the failure of the agencies to arrest them.
“I thoughtfully examined this argument and felt it necessary to note that all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at proper time,” the judge recorded in his order.
Source: Barandbench
