The Supreme Court has granted the bail to M3M directors Basant and Pankaj Bansal who were allegedly involved in money laundering.
A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PV Sanjay Kumar emphasised that the focus of the bail matter was solely on the legality of the arrest and remand and not the merits of the allegations.
“This reflects poorly on the ED’s style of functioning. The ED is the premier investigating agency probing money-laundering cases and their every action is expected to be transparent and fair. ED is not expected to be vindictive,” the court said.
The Bansals had moved the top court against the July 20 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had dismissed their bail pleas saying the case was quite serious in nature.
The bench, while directing the release of Pankaj and Basant Bansal, held that the ED action in arresting the two persons reeked of arbitrariness and the clandestine conduct of the ED did not warrant acceptance.
Pankaj Bansal Versus UOI