NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that it will file charge sheet against corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar before April 1 in a case related to irregular seat-sharing on Air India’s profitable routes.
A division bench, comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Vinod Goel, listed the matter for April 4.
The high court was informed by ED’s special public prosecutor D P Singh that Talwar was arrested on January 30, and the 60-day statutory period is about to end. An accused is entitled to statutory bail if the investigating agency fails to file a charge sheet within the mandatory period.
The court, meanwhile, said it will not hear Talwar’s plea challenging certain sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act because the Supreme Court is hearing these issues. “Judicial propriety demands that this should refrain from hearing the issue so far as this prayer is concerned as it is pending before the Supreme Court,” it said.
The court, however, said it will continue hearing Talwar’s petition challenging his detention.
Talwar has been accused by the ED of acting as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines in the matter of seat-sharing on Air India’s profitable routes.
The ED is also probing various other cases related to money laundering against Talwar, who was deported from the UAE on January 30. It had told a trial court that it needed to interrogate Talwar to get the names of officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Aviation Company of India Ltd and Air India, who favoured foreign airlines, including the Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia.