Delhi Court grants regular bail to businessman Rajesh Katyal in money laundering case

New Delhi [India], November 16 (ANI): A Delhi court has granted regular bail to businessman Rajesh Katyal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in laundering over Rs 200 crore in proceeds of crime (POC) through his companies.

Katyal had earlier been granted interim bail by the Delhi High Court.

Special Judge Gaurav Gupta in an order passed on November 14, 2024 granted regular bail to businessman Rajesh Katyal noted that the twin hurdles of Sec. 45 PMLA have been overcomed by the accused.

Since, the existence of the predicate scheduled offence itself is doubtful, there are reasonable grounds for the court to believe that the accused is not guilty of the alleged offence.

Further, it is a matter of record that the accused had joined the investigation on atleast 04 occasions in the past. There is nothing to show that the accused had ever misused the liberty granted to him. He had also not tried to flee from justice.

As such, the accused does not appear to be likely to commit any offence while on bail, said the Court.

Court noted that ED's case was initiated based on 08 FIRs pertaining to EOW, Delhi Police and Haryana.

As per the allegations, Rajesh Katyal Allegedly Involved in Laundering Rs 241 Crore Through Shell Companies and Foreign Investments. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused businessman Rajesh Katyal, along with his brother Amit Katyal and their associates, of defrauding innocent plot buyers of their hard-earned money, amounting to over Rs 200 crore.

The alleged scam involves funds diverted from plot buyers in the Brahma City and Krrish World projects in Gurugram, which were funneled through multiple shell companies and moved abroad to conceal their illicit origin.

According to the charges, Rajesh Katyal, a key decision-maker and Director in several companies within the Katyal Group, is accused of conspiring with his brother Amit Katyal and others to divert the proceeds of crime.

Specifically, it is alleged that Mahadev Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., a company where Rajesh Katyal held a directorial role, received Rs 241.18 crore in funds from plot buyers. Of this amount, Rs 205 crore was allegedly invested in a real estate and luxury hotel project in Sri Lanka through Krrish Transworks (Colombo) Pvt. Ltd. via the RBI's Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) route.

Further, Rajesh Katyal is accused of receiving Rs 65 crore from his brother Amit Katyal through his company, Iceberg Trading Pvt. Ltd. Out of this, Rs 50 crore was allegedly treated as a gift by Rajesh Katyal and subsequently concealed. The ED claims that Rajesh Katyal was a direct beneficiary and recipient of the proceeds of crime, helping to launder the illicit funds.

Appearing for accused Businessman Senior Advocates Vikas Pahwa and Geeta Luthra the ED has not come to the court with clean hands and has deliberately concealed the true facts from the Court.

It was argued by Senior Advocates that the present ECIR was registered in 2023 whereas five out of eight FIRs, upon which the ECIR was based, were already quashed/closed, many years prior to registration of ECIR, which fact was not disclosed by ED in the Sec. 167 CrPC remand application.

It was further argued that ED claimed that Rs 241.18 crore was received in the account of Mahadev Infratech Pvt. Ltd., being proceeds of crime whereas, most of the amount had already been paid back to the different accounts, much before registration of ECIR.

It was also argued that ED had full knowledge that after going through the balance sheets a net payment of only Rs 30 lakhs approx., was received and not Rs 241.18 crores, as claimed by ED as the entire money had already been returned many years before registration of ECIR, however, the same was deliberately concealed by ED. (ANI)