Excise policy case: Delhi court denies bail to Raghav Magunta

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) A Delhi court has dismissed the bail plea of Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, in the now-scrapped excise policy case.

"Court is prima facie of the view that there is a genuine case made out by the investigating agency showing active involvement of the applicant in the commission of the alleged offence of money laundering and this court is not able to arrive at any finding contrary to the said view," the judge said.

The court added that the evidence and circumstances that emerged during the course of the investigation "prima facie suggest" that the accused was a participant in the criminal conspiracy to "generate or launder the proceeds of crime of commission of offences".

He was also related, directly or indirectly, to the activities relating to possession, use and projection etc of the said proceeds of crime as untainted money as he was a "key member of the above cartel formed by the accused persons to achieve the illegal objectives of the said conspiracy", the court said.

Raghav's advocates said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested him despite his cooperation with the inquiry and the fact that the crime of money laundering carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.

He was arrested in February under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED has alleged that Raghav Magunta was involved in various activities of possession, use, transfer, etc. of the proceeds of crime worth at least Rs 180 crore.

According to the ED's charge sheet, a part of the alleged Rs 100 crore kickback generated in the crime was used in the Goa Assembly election campaign of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Based on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s FIR, the ED's money laundering case arose.

The court on Friday reserved its order on Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd Director Rajesh Joshi's bail application in connection with the excise policy-related money laundering case being probed by the ED.

Joshi is accused of running the AAP campaign during the 2022 Goa Assembly polls.

He was arrested on February 8 and is currently in judicial custody.