High court extends Jayachandra's judicial custody till tomorrow

The high court on Monday extended the judicial custody of S C Jayachandra, the suspended chief project officer of the State Highway Development Project, till January 4, 2017. A lower court on December 15, 2016 had granted interim bail to Jayachandra. Assistant director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had moved the high court seeking cancellation of the bail. The ED contended that the lower court had granted bail to Jayachandra without hearing the agency in the matter.

Justice Rathnakala disposed of the ED’s petition and directed it to approach the lower court where proceedings against Jayachandra are on. Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the ED said that Jayachandra was booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the provisions for granting bail in such matters are different.

Senior counsel C V Nagesh, appearing for Jayachandra said that the ED is not the public prosecutor in this case and when interim bail was granted on December 15, 2016, bail conditions could not be immediately complied with. The high court directed the ED to file its statement of objections in the lower court by January 7 and continue its arguments there.
 
On November 30, 2016 the Income Tax officials during their raid on Jayachandra’s house had found Rs 5 lakh in Rs 2,000 denomination notes and other unaccounted-for wealth. Following this, the ED officials arrested him on charges of money-laundering. The CBI and the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the state have also registered a case against Jayachandra.