Cash for 'managing' PIL: Jharkhand HC grants bail to advocate Rajeev Kumar
Kumar was arrested by Kolkata police in July on a complaint filed by businessman Amit Agarwal who alleged that Kumar demanded money to settle a PIL that also involved Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
The Jharkhand High Court has granted bail to advocate Rajeev Kumar, who was booked by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly possessing unaccounted cash. The lawyer was arrested in Kolkata with cash amounting to Rs 50 lakh in July.
The ED registered the case against Kumar, in August, on the basis of a complaint filed by one Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal alleging extortion. Agarwal alleged that Kumar demanded Rs. 1 crore from him to get his name removed from a PIL seeking a CBI probe against certain shell companies involved in laundering of black money and political money.
The said PIL, filed by one Shiv Shankar Sharma, represented by Kumar, also leveled allegations against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. On Monday, the Supreme Court held that the proceedings in the PIL filed against the Chief Minister are not maintainable.
The ED had registered the case against Kumar in its Ranchi office under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, with scheduled offence under Section 120-B and Section 384 of the IPC and Section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
However, on further investigation, ED found that it was Amit Agarwal had contacted Kumar for settling the PIL. ED then arrested Agarwal on the allegations that he hatched a conspiracy for trapping Kumar to frustrate the PIL.
In his bail plea, Kumar alleged that Amit Agarwal had implicated him falsely because he apprehended certain orders in the PIL against him.
The bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi noted, "The petitioner is a practicing advocate, in that circumstance, the liability of the petitioner for further investigation, interrogation and facing trial is not jeopardized and he is already held to be not at ‘flight risk’ and there is no possibility of tampering the evidence or influencing/intimidating the witnesses, as has been submitted by the Mr. Nilesh Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner."
Therefore, considering all the aspects of the matter including the duration of custody of Kumar who was in jail since August 18, 2022, the court opined that he was entitled for bail.
Case Title: Rajeev Kumar v. The State through Enforcement Directorate