On May 29, the Supreme Court declined to grant interim bail to Singh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering investigation related to a bank fraud case. This denial of bail was specifically for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections, which were held in Punjab on June 1. The Bench stated its reluctance to provide relief to the AAP MLA without first hearing from the ED.
However, the Court did serve notice to the Enforcement Directorate and requested the probe agency to address Singh's petition challenging his arrest and his request for interim bail.
On May 29, the top court had refused to grant interim bail to Singh -- arrested by the ED in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to a bank fraud case -- to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls. Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab took place on June 1. The Bench had said it was not inclined to grant any relief to the AAP MLA without hearing the ED.
However, it had issued notice to the ED and asked the probe agency to respond in his petition against arrest as well as his application for interim bail.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier dismissed his plea challenging his arrest, observing that there was no illegality. “We do not find any manifest illegality in the orders of remand and subsequent proceedings”, the high court had said.
Jaswant Singh, an MLA from Amargarh, argued that his arrest violated Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
However, the high court highlighted that written grounds of arrest were provided to him, as evidenced by his signatures, which constituted substantial compliance with Section 19(1).
The high court observed that Singh, a member of the AAP, was arrested on November 6, 2023, and the written grounds of his arrest were furnished to him on the same day.
The CBI conducted raids in May last year on premises linked to Jaswant Singh in connection with a Rs 40 crore bank fraud. In September 2022, the ED had conducted raids on several premises linked to him as part of a money-laundering probe linked to the alleged bank loan fraud. The ED had allegedly seized Rs 32 lakh in cash, mobile phones and hard drives during the raids.
