NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in relation to the alleged illegal phone tapping of National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees from 2009 to 2017.
Pandey was arrested on July 19 in the case also linked with alleged involvement of former chiefs of the NSE Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain. While granting bail, Justice Jasmeet Singh was of the view as per to Section 45 of the PMLA, prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Pandey is not guilty and he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
The court noted that he did not hold public office between 2009 and 2011 and, therefore, no question of abusing a ‘public servant’s position.’ As per ED’s allegation, Pandey had set up a company called iSec Securities, which was used for electronic surveillance of the employees between 2009 and 2017 and sending periodic reports to the NSE.
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that the revenue of `4.54 crore generated by ISEC for providing such services constitutes the “proceeds of crime” and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA. In the order, the court said that the ED has failed to show the nature of any information which was shared or misused, or intended to be misused, to cause any wrongful loss or wrongful gain.
The court said that there must be a dishonest intent to cause a wrongful loss or wrongful gain or an intention to defraud to charge him under money laundering sections. “The entire prosecution is silent on the identity of the victim who has suffered a wrongful loss. There is nobody named in the prosecution complaint who has been deceived or cheated. Nobody has been named to whom a wrongful loss has been caused and as to what is the wrongful loss. Except for a bald averment that various customers have been cheated,” the order stated.
‘Prima facie not guilty’
While granting bail, the court was of the view as per PMLA, prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Pandey is not guilty