The Madras High Court today granted bail to sand mining baron Sekhar Reddy and his two associates, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of money laundering.
Justice S Bhaskaran granted bail to Reddy and his associates, Srinivasulu and Premkumar, on a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh each with two sureties of the same amount to the satisfaction of the CBI court at Chennai.
The three were arrested by the ED on March 20 following seizure of Rs 34 crore in new Rs 2,000 currency notes last December.
They were booked under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the CBI registered its FIR following seizure of the cash.
Justice Bhaskaran granted bail to the trio observing that there appears to be no material to prove that the accused are guilty of the offence and "further as the limitations of Section 45(1) of PMLA is not applicable, it should be treated as regular bail."
The judge further asked the petitioners to stay at New Delhi and report before officer-in-charge of PMLA case besides the Enforcement Directorate there until further orders.
...The petitioners have made out a case for grant of bail. Accordingly it is ordered that the petitioners shall be released on bail," the court said.
Among other conditions, the judge directed them to surrender their passports and to stay at New Delhi and report before the officer-in-charge of PMLA case, Enforcement directorate there until further orders.
The court had reserved orders on April 26 on their bail pleas.
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