New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar in a money laundering case related to the AIADMK’s “two leaves” election symbol.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne granted the relief to him on a personal bond and surety bond of Rs 5 lakh each.
Chandrasekhar will, however, remain in jail in other pending cases lodged against him.
“Liberty being the most sacrosanct norm in our Constitution, the court cannot preach liberty from its decisions while playing footsie with the state upon the bogey of special legislation or economic offences,” Judge Gogne said.
He said while the offence of money laundering remains grave in nature, a special legislation like PMLA is not a grouse of the state to be exacted upon the liberty of an accused through the court.
“Thus, the existence even of 31 cases (including the present case) against the accused does not defeat his right to bail in this particular case when the period of detention has crossed the threshold of half of the period of proposed imprisonment under section 4 of the PMLA, more so, when he is already on bail in 26 out of the 31 cases,” the judge said.
“With the proceedings effectively being under stay, both in the predicate offence and the present complaint under PMLA for the past several years, the accused has not only served excessive detention during trial but also stands to suffer further prolonged detention without trial,” he added.
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