The Supreme Court on 14 October granted bail to Sanjay Sureka after more than 20 months in custody in a money-laundering case involving alleged proceeds of ₹6,210.72 crore. The bench rejected his claim that a five-day delay in forwarding arrest material invalidated the arrest, holding that “immediately” under Section 19(2) of the PMLA means expeditiously and simultaneously, allowing only time strictly needed to compile voluminous records. It nevertheless found that the immense record, 97 accused and about 98 witnesses made an early trial unlikely. With the investigation complete against Sureka and the maximum sentence being seven years, continued detention would undermine Article 21. Bail is subject to trial-court conditions, passport deposit, a travel restriction and non-interference with evidence.
Judge / Bench — Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi. The judgment was authored by Justice Aravind Kumar.
Advocates appearing — For the appellant — Not named in the judgment. For the Directorate of Enforcement — Not named in the judgment.