Sanjay Chhabria to remain in ED custody till June 17 in Yes Bank-DHFL case

Yes Bank-DHFL case accused Sanjay Chhabria has been sent to further custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till June 17.

Sanjay Chhabria, the promoter of Radius Group who was earlier arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Yes Bank-DHFL case, has been sent to further custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by the Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Mumbai till June 17.

Rajiv Kumar, Assistant Director of ED filed the affidavit seeking further remand of Chhabria for another 7 days. However, the court extended Chhabria's remand only for 4 days. Chhabria was produced before the court at 12.30 pm and he told special Judge MG Deshpande that he had no complaint of ill treatment being meted out to him at the hands of the agency.

Advocate Vibhav Krishna, appearing for Chhabria, filed an application before the court and submitted that under the provisions of Section 44(1)(c) of the PMLA Act, it is provided that if the court which takes cognizance of scheduled offence is other than the Special court under PMLA, on an application by the appropriate PMLA authority for transfer, the case of Scheduled Offence shall be transferred to the Special Court.

Chhabria was earlier arrested by CBI on April 28. On the basis of the CBI case of Scheduled Offence, ED had arrested him earlier this month.

Krishna reasoned that the allegations, background facts and case of the two agencies i.e. ED and CBI are overlapping. There would be several common witnesses. The scheduled offence case would also have a material bearing on the PMLA case.

Krishna emphasized that since the Special Court under PLMA has already taken cognizance of the complaint of the offences of money laundering, therefore, PMLA Court would be the appropriate court to which committal has to be made under Section 44(1), on an application of ED.

Judge Deshpande sought a reply from ED on this application of Krishna and adjourned the case.