Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld the Jharkhand High Court’s decision to grant bail to a partner of a construction firm who was charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly funding the banned organization CPI (Maoist).
A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar stated that interference with the High Court’s decision to grant bail was unwarranted. However, the prosecution (NIA) was given the liberty to seek cancellation of the accused’s bail if any bail conditions were misused.
Last year, the NIA attached 152 bank accounts, special term deposit receipts, and a mutual fund account containing over Rs 20 crore belonging to the firm and its various partners under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The NIA alleged that the accused, Mrityunjay Kumar Singh alias Sonu Singh, had close ties with top CPI (Maoist) cadres and provided cash to further Maoist activities.
Additionally, the NIA accused Singh of channelizing illegal funds from the terror outfit’s account to various other accounts, creating multiple sources to conceal the original source of money. However, Singh provided an explanation, stating that he runs a road construction company and argued that capital infusion into the business didn’t imply channelizing terror funds.
The High Court granted bail to Singh after determining that a prima facie case under Section 43-D (5) of the UAP Act was not established against him. The decision to grant bail underscores the importance of due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
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