The Supreme Court has said there was “no rule” that a person accused of money laundering ought to spend a year in jail before being give bail as it allowed the relief to a businessman.A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan granted bail to businessman Anwar Dhebar in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam case and said, “It is not a rule to be in custody for a year to get bail.”
He was arrested in August last year and has spent over nine months in jail.
The top court said the maximum punishment for the offence alleged was seven years, and that the trial against Dhebar was unlikely to start any time soon given the large number of witnesses.
“The appellant was arrested on August 8, 2024. Forty witnesses have been cited. Investigation is in progress. In the predicate offence there are 450 witnesses. In predicate offence cognisance has not been taken. Therefore there is no possibility of trial commencing in near future. The maximum punishment is seven years,” it noted.