PMLA case: 2nd charge sheet filed against Misa, husband; court

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a second charge sheet against RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband in a money laundering case.

The court hearing the case has now kept both the charge sheets for consideration on February 5. The repeated filing of charge sheets by the ED has irked the court with Special Judge N K Malhotra asking the agency whether it will allow the court to start the trial.

"Will you let the trial begin or keep filing complaints? How many supplementary charge sheets will you file? You are a premier investigating agency. You cannot behave like this. It is an ill-drafted complaint," the judge said.

On December 23, the ED had filed the first charge sheet against Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar and their company Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd in connection with a case of laundering Rs 1.20 crore.

The case was registered by the ED following investigation into a complaint filed by Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) about a Rs 8,000-crore money laundering racket involving two Delhi-based brothers, who were accused of using shell companies to help others route money.

The ED had attached a farmhouse 'Palam Farms' in south-west Delhi belonging to the couple, in September.

Legitimising exercise

According to the ED, four shell companies were used to legitimise unaccounted money belonging to the couple.

The ED claimed that 1.20 lakh shares of Bharti's company were bought during 2007-08 and 2008-09 at Rs 100 per share by four shell companies, three of which were managed by arrested brothers Surendra Kumar and Virendra and another by Santosh Kumar Shah. These shares were later bought by Bharti at Rs 12 per share in 2009.

It said a chartered accountant, Rajesh Agrawal, "mediated and provided" Rs 90 lakh to the brothers in advance so as to invest in the company as "share premium," while another person provided Rs 30 lakh to Shah.

The couple have "laundered unaccounted money of Rs 1.20 crore by taking accommodation entries from Jain Brothers and Shah, through mediators, in the form of share capital and share premium by various shell companies controlled by them," the ED had said.