Mumbai: Court Raps ED Over Fugitives Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya & Mehul Choksi

The special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) ridiculed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on failure to get Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi, while allowing the plea of chartered account Vyomesh Shah, to drop the condition to get a prior permission of the court to travel abroad.

Shah is accused of laundering money for Nihal Garware of Garware Industries, who was arrested last year for causing a loss of Rs100 crore to J&K Bank through a property deal in BKC.

Shah had moved the special court seeking a modification of the bail order wherein he was asked to not leave the country without the permission of the court. Shah pleaded that his work is such that he needs to travel to various countries in search of clients and work and it is not feasible for him to seek permission of the court each time.

The plea was opposed by the ED prosecutor who contended that such blanket permission cannot be given, and as such this would give a situation like in the case of businessmen Modi, Mallya and Choksi.

The special judge MG Deshpande, criticised ED for its approach and observed that “all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at proper time”.