New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday junked the bail plea of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s deputy secretary Saumya Chaurasia, an accused in an alleged coal levy scam money laundering case.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi said: “No doubt the courts need to be more sensitive and sympathetic towards the category of persons included in the first proviso to Section 45 and similar provisions in the other Acts, as the persons of tender age and women who are likely to be more vulnerable, may sometimes be misused by the unscrupulous elements and made scapegoats for committing such crimes”.
“nonetheless, the courts also should not be oblivious to the fact that nowadays the educated and well placed women in the society engage themselves in the commercial ventures and enterprises, and advertently or inadvertently engage themselves in the illegal activities”, said Justice Trivedi, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench. The apex court also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on her for misrepresenting facts and making incorrect statements.
The bench said the Enforcement Directorate has collected sufficient evidence to prima facie come to the conclusion that the appellant, who was a deputy secretary and official on special duty (OSD) in the office of the chief minister, was actively involved in the offence of Money Laundering as defined in Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“As against that, there is nothing on record to satisfy the conscience of the Court that the appellant is not guilty of the said offence and the special benefit as contemplated in the proviso to Section 45 should be granted to the appellant who is a lady,” the bench said, adding “In that view of the matter the Court does not find any merit in the instant appeal.
The apex court’s judgment came on an appeal filed by Chaurasia against an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court rejecting her bail plea. The bench said since the court has found that there was an attempt made by and on behalf of the appellant to misrepresent the facts by making incorrect statements in the appeal for assailing the impugned order passed by the high court, the appeal deserves to be dismissed.
The apex court also imposed a cost of Rs.1 Lakh, which should be deposited by the petitioner before the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority within two weeks from today.
