Supreme Court: In a criminal appeal by Sanjay Badaya seeking bail in a money laundering case in Jal Jeevan Mission, the Division Bench of BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, JJ. granted bail to Badaya considering that in Peeyush Jain v. Enforcement Director1 the accused therein with similar allegations was granted bail, and that the trial was not likely to be concluded soon, and that charges were yet to be framed.
Background
Sanjay Badaya is a close aide of former Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi. He was accused of acting as a ‘middleman’ in the Jal Jeevan Mission scam. Sanjay Badaya was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), on 16-07-2024 for allegations of money laundering in the Jal Jeevan Mission Scam (JJM). The Special Court (PMLA), Jaipur granted four days of ED custody. The accused persons in the said JJM scam were involved in giving bribes to public servants to obtain illegal protection, obtaining tenders, getting bills sanctioned and covering up irregularities in respect of work executed by them in respect of various tenders received by them from the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED). They were also involved in the use of fake and fabricated work experience certificates purported to be issued by IRCON in order to get PHED contracts.
ED’s investigation revealed that contractors secured tenders by bribing senior PHED officials and Sanjay Badaya.
Order
Relying upon Peeyush Jain (supra) the Court noted that the allegations made against Badaya were almost similar to the allegations made in the said case, and the Court granted the accused therein bail. The Court pointed out that Badaya is not an accused in the predicate offence and it has been alleged that he received Rs. 3.30 crores from proceeds of crime and an amount of Rs. 1.05 crores were also deposited in his father’s account.
The Court considered that the substantial evidence in the present matter is documentary in nature, hence, there was no possibility of tampering with the evidence as the prosecution seized all these documents, and the charges were yet to be framed. The Court also noted that there are 50 witnesses to be examined and the evidence contains around 8,000 pages and said that the possibility of the trial being concluded expeditiously was minimal.
Considering the said aspects and the order passed in Peeyush Jain, the Court granted bail to the Badaya and directed for his release on bail on terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Trial Court.
CASE DETAILS
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Citation: Appellants : Respondents : |
Advocates who appeared in this case For Petitioner(s): For Respondent(s): |
CORAM :
1. Criminal Appeal No. 3754/2024.
