PMLA: Former BPSL CMD Singal moves court for bail

Former Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) CMD Sanjay Singal moved a Delhi court Tuesday seeking interim bail in a multi-crore money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud, claiming various ailments.

The application was filed before Special Judge Illa Rawat, who is likely to hear the application on December 5, when Singal's two-week custodial interrogations at the hands of Enforcement Directorate (ED) are scheduled to end.

Singal, 59, sought the relief for a period of four weeks, saying he had "fragile health" and he needed to consult "trusted medical professionals and receive appropriate medical treatment, in relation to the multiple ailments the applicant suffers from since several years".

He claimed that he was suffering from various ailments, including coronary artery disease, spine lumbar, uncontrolled diabetes and severe hypertension.

"The applicant is entitled to seek preventive and ameliorative measures for his health and not be made to wait for an emergency situation which may be life-threatening while in custody," the application said.

The court had on November 29 extended by seven more days the ED custody of the accused after special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana told the court that further custody was required for confronting Singal with further documents and to trace the entire trail of money for probable diversion by unearthing routing of the proceeds of crime.

Singal was placed under arrest on November 22 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was questioned in connection with the case.

Singal was arrested as he was not cooperating in the probe, advocate A R Aditya, also appearing for the ED, said.

The ED recently attached assets worth Rs 4,025 crore of BPSL.

The ED said, "An amount of Rs 695.14 crore was introduced as the capital by Sanjay Singal (the then CMD of the company) and his family members in BPSL out of artificially generated long-term capital gains (LTCG) by the diversion of bank loans fund of BPSL.”