Madras High Court denies anticipatory bail to Jaffar Sadiq’s wife, brother

Madras High Court denies anticipatory bail to drug smuggling accused linked to money laundering case by ED.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a joint anticipatory bail petition filed by drug smuggling accused Bezos alias J. Ameena Banu, 32, wife of A. Jaffar Sadiq, and brother A. Mohamed Saleem, 34, fearing arrest in a money laundering case booked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Justice T.V. Thamilselvi refused to grant the relief to the petitioners following vehement objection raised by ED special public prosecutor N. Ramesh. The SPP accused the two petitioners of having misrepresented the facts of the case in order to obtain the relief by misleading the court.

He said the Narcotics Contro Bureau sleuths in New Delhi had seized 50 kg of pseudoephedrine on February 15 and arrested five suspects including the first petitioner’s husband. According to the NCB, Sadiq was the mastermind of the entire drug syndicate that had been busted.

The NCB had completed its investigation and filed a complaint under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act before a special court at Patiala House Court in New Delhi. Apart from this, Sadiq and his brother Saleem (second petitioner) were booked in another drug case in Mumbai.

The Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (Export) at the Air Cargo in Mumbai had booked the case in 2019 for attempting to export 36.687 kg of Ketamine, worth about ₹20 crore in the international market, by concealing it in the cavities of a cardboard containing bangles.

Further, the Chennai Customs too had booked a case in 2015 for exporting 50 kg pseudoephedrine. This case was booked against Sada alias S.G. Sadanandan who belonged to the cartel led by Sadiq and was also an arrested accused in the 2024 case booked by the NCB in New Delhi.

Since the provisions invoked by the NCB and the Customs were scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002, the ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on March 11, 2024 and searched the premises linked with Sadiq.