Former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, others get bail in Coal scam case

A Delhi court Thursday granted bail to former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and others in a money laundering case related to the coal block allocation scam. Special Judge Bharat Parashar granted the relief to Darda on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and one surety of the like amount in the case pertaining to the allocation of coal blocks in the Bander area of Maharashtra.

Besides Darda, the court also granted bail to his son Devendra, business associate Manoj Jayaswal and eight other persons. Advocate Vijay Aggarwal had moved bail applications on their behalf saying that all the accused joined the investigation as and when called by the ED. The bail application was opposed by ED's special public prosecutors N K Matta and Tarannum Cheema, who told the court that the accused were influential and could tamper with the evidence if they are released on bail. All the accused persons had appeared before the court in pursuance to summons issued to them.

According to the charge sheet, filed by the advocate Samvedna Verma, the case pertains to money laundering in the allocation of coal blocks to AMR Iron and Steel in the Bander area of Maharashtra. "Keeping in view...that the accused persons were not arrested during the course of investigation and there are also no allegations that they did not join the investigation, I am of the considered opinion that the interest of justice will be suitably met if accused persons are ordered to be released on bail," the judge said and posted the matter for further hearing on July 3.

According to the ED, Rs 24.50 crore from Abhijeet Group companies, controlled by Jayaswal, was arranged after routing it through 11 Kolkata-based shell companies operated by his relatives, and the funds were transferred to Asera Banka Power Pvt Ltd, owned by Vijay Darda. The offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is punishable with a minimum sentence of three years which can extend to seven years.