[NSE Phone Tapping] Delhi Court grants bail to Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in CBI case
Pandey, who was arrested on July 19, 2022, is accused of conspiring with former NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna to cheat NSE and its employees between 2009 and 2017.
A Delhi Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey. Pandey was arrested in a CBI case pertaining to the alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees.
Special Judge Sunena Sharma ordered, “In the light of the aforementioned observation made by the Hon’ble High Court regarding lack of essential ingredient of the predicate offences, this court is inclined to grant bail to the accused/applicant even in the instant case.”
On December 8, Justice Jasmeet Singh of the Delhi High Court granted bail to the Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a money laundering case.
While granting bail in the present case, the Special Judge stated that the fact that the CBI was not a party to the applicant's bail application in the ED case before the High Court cannot be used to argue that the predicate offences should be treated differently.
“Considering the fact that the Hon’ble High Court has already granted bail to the accused/applicant in the connected ED matter, which in the light of Section 45 PMLA embodies far more stringent conditions for grant of bail, I find no reason to decline bail to the applicant in the present case. As already noted above, all the offences other than predicate offences of the present FIR are bailable”, the Special Judge observed.
Pandey, who was arrested on July 19, 2022, has been accused of conspiring with former NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna to cheat NSE and its employees between 2009 and 2017. It has been alleged that for the purpose of tapping, iSEC Services Pvt Ltd, a company associated with Pandey, was engaged in the illegal interception of phone calls of NSE employees. It is ED’s allegation that iSEC was paid huge sums of money for this purpose.
Earlier, in August Special Judge Sunena Sharma had dismissed the bail plea of Pandey. On August 2, the Rouse Avenue Court sent Pandey to judicial custody till August 16 in the same case. ED had earlier arrested former NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna on July 14 after conducting her interrogation and taking permission she was produced from jail on an order passed by the judge.
The High Court on November 18 reserved the order on the bail application in PMLA case against former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO, co-accused Chitra Ramkrishna.
Case Title: Sanjay Pandey v. CBI