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Synopsis

During hearing of Hyderabad-business man and accused in the Delhi excise policy case Abhishek Boinpally's bail plea on Thursday, Special Public Prosecutor Zoheb Hossain told the Delhi High Court that, “Boinpally is one of the key persons from the South Group in giving bribes of Rs.200 crore through Vijay Nair. He has been 'neck deep' in the conspiracy”.

Hossain, on behalf of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), dealing with the allegation of 'Illegal arrest', stated that there was absolutely no violation, nor the Special Judge had pointed out any violation. He contended, “Today, this argument is taken only to circumvent the twin conditions of the PMLA. The only two reasonable grounds for bail are; a. Reasonable grounds he's not guilty, b. If released on bail, he'll not indulge in the same activity”.

The SPP contended that all the arguments on the illegality of arrest needed to be rejected at the onset, and this could not be an argument for bail. All requirements of S. 19 and D.K Basu Case have been compiled. Referring to the arrest memo, he stated that it also has the signature of the arrestee.

“When Abhishek Boinpally was given the list of grounds of arrest, he has gone through each page and signed on each one of them. So there has been no prejudice caused”, Hossain added.

On the contrary, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudari for Boinpally argued, “I have been in custody for 6-7 months, the trial is going to take years. There are chargesheet after chargesheet being filed in these cases both by CBI and ED. Simply because it is a sensational matter, I cannot be kept behind bars. I am a man with deep roots, I have an ailing mother, a minor child, and a wife. I have always appeared for investigation whenever called”.

Taking note of the submissions, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma “reserved order” in the bail plea.

Notably, the senior counsel had earlier contended that “There is no material, no proof. All based on assumptions. I have no criminal antecedents. I am not a flight risk”. He stated that while in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on the day Boinpally was granted bail, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested him.

Chaudhari had contended, “Prima Facie I have a sanguine case to argue. The accusations against me are prima facie hollow. The first & principal allegation against me (Abhishek Boinpally) is that I am a key person involved in the conspiracy and got kickbacks of Rs. 100 crores. This is on the basis of the statement of one Dinesh Arora (an approver in the CBI case). Assuming his statement is of some credibility, this is a statement of a person who has been given assurance of non-prosecution, non-arrest”.

Stating the second allegation Chaudhari had contended, “The allegation was that Rs. 3.85 crores traveled from Indospirits to one Gautam Mootha, one of my good acquaintances on February 10, 2022, then to me and from me to Zeus network private network which was kind of a news network. This is the trial according to the ED. This is only on paper but what they are ignoring is two facts”.

Citing a famous fallacy "Post Hoc ergo propter hoc", which means after this, therefore because of this, "the entire case is ipse dixit (without proof)", Choudhari had argued.

Boinpally was a Director of Anoos Electrolysis & Obesity Pvt. Ltd, Anoos Health & Wellness Pvt. Ltd., Robin Distribution LLP, Agasti Ventures, SS Mines & Minerals, Master Sand LLP, Neoverse Realty Pvt. Ltd., Zeus Networking Pvt. Ltd and Valuecare Esthetic Pvt. Ltd.

On March 14, Boinpally moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s order denying him bail in a case registered by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).

It is to be noted that on February 16, the Special Judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi denied bail to Abhishek Boinpally, Vijay Nair, Sameer Mahendru, Sarath P Reddy, and Binoy Babu. All of them were arrested by ED in the money laundering case related to the Delhi liquor scam.

Case Title: Abhishek Boinpally v. Directorate of Enforcement