The Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur dismissed the bail application (U/S 439) of Ram Kripal Meena, who is accused in the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) Paper Leak case. 

The matter was heard before the single head bench of Justice Praveer Bhatnagar.

The Hon'ble Court made the following significant observations while rejecting the bail application:

The Court highlighted that to grant bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), both conditions specified under Sub-Section (1) of Section 45 must be met. It emphasized the necessity for the court to assess whether there are grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of the alleged offence.

It was noted that Sections 45 and 24 of the PMLA collectively shift the burden of proof onto the accused, requiring them to demonstrate their innocence regarding the commission of the offence. Despite arguments suggesting that the accused cannot be charged under the PMLA, 2002 since the Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 1992 is not a scheduled offence, the Court dismissed this contention.

It reasoned that since the accused was also charged under Sections 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which are classified as scheduled offences under Part-A of the schedule, the offence under PMLA, 2002, is established. The Court rejected the assertion made by the petitioner's counsel that the accused was not liable under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC. It clarified that such determinations are to be made during the trial, and at this stage, the court's role is limited to examining whether there is prima facie evidence indicating the accused's involvement in the offence under Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act.

Further, the Hon'ble Court observed that the judgments relied upon by the counsel for the petitioner were also not applicable to the facts of the present case, and finally  the bail application was dismissed.

The matter was argued by Ld. ASG, Mr. R. D. Rastogi, assisted by Adv. Akshay Bhardwaj, Counsel for Enforcement Directorate, Adv. Devesh Yadav, Assisting Counsel to ASG, and Adv. Ayush Agarwal.