Mumbai: Builder Avinash Bhosale's son, another get bail, had cited SC ruling

Pune builder Avinash Bhosale's son Amit Bhosale and his co-accused Ranjit Mohite were on Wednesday granted bail in a money laundering case after the court took cognisance of the chargsheet and formally took them in custody. They had cited the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling while claiming bail.

The apex court had ruled in July-end that if a scheduled offence does not exist due to a discharge or acquittal of the accused in it, then the money laundering offence lodged based on it, will not stand.

The younger Bhosale has said in his plea filed through advocate Vijay Agarwal and Rahul Agarwal (appearing on behalf of Wadia Ghandy and Co) that there is no scheduled offence in existence due to the closure of the case and therefore there is no basis on which the present money laundering offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) will stand. It said that courts across the country have been granting bail to the accused persons after the SC judgement on July 27.

The court noted that they were not arrested in the offence and since the offence is non-bailable, they were being formally taken in custody after cognisance was taken and they appeared before it. It granted them bail on furnishing a provisional cash security of Rs 2 lakh.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered the case based on a Pune police FIR. It had alleged that a land in Pune's Yashvant Ghadge Nagar Cooperative Society was transferred by Mohite to Ara Properties in violation of the original allotment conditions. As per the original conditions, it could be transferred only to government-commissioned officers.