Section 45 of the PMLA requires a court to provide the Public Prosecutor an opportunity to oppose the bail application of the accused. It also states that the court can release the accused only if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of the offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
These conditions make it difficult for a money laundering case accused to get bail.
The legal questions before the apex court arose in relation to a Punjab and Haryana High Court order denying pre-arrest bail to several accused in a money laundering case connected to an alleged land scam involving revenue officials.
The top court in January had granted the accused interim protection.
Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra with advocates Harshit Sethi, Nikilesh Ramachandran, Mansi Tripathi, Manmeet Singh Bindra, Nikhil Jain, Divya Jain, Rhail Mahajan, Shubham Seth, Anuj Panwar, Kamal Verma and Lovekesh Aggarwal appeared for the accused.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and advocates Zoheb Hossain, Annam Venkatesh, Arkaj Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Maroria appeared for the ED.
Source: Barandbench
