Pune: A sessions court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of an accused, who was apprehending arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after he had allegedly taken Rs 1 crore for admission in a city-based college.
Additional Sessions Judge AN Sirsikar rejected the bail application of Saurabh Shivaji Yedurkar against whom an FIR has been registered with the Koregaon Park (KP) police station.
In 2014, based on a complaint by one Rajendra Sharma, police had booked Yedurkar and his accomplices for offences under sections 420 (cheating), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused had taken money for helping Sharma to get admission for his son in DY Patil College.
Later, Assistant Director of Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai, issued a notice to Yedurkar and he was called for investigation regarding money laundering.
Apprehending arrest by the ED for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Yedurkar applied for anticipatory bail. Special public prosecutor SAA Naqvi, while opposing the application, raised an objection regarding jurisdiction of the court.
According to him, the special designated courts are established for the trial of the offences under the Money Laundering Act.
The judge observed that as per the notification, dated February 5, 2016, issued by the Ministry of Finance, Govt of India, city civil court, Mumbai, is designated as a special court for the area comprising Pune for the trial of the offence punishable under section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“I think that the court has no jurisdiction to try the offence punishable under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, consequently, not competent to decide the application for anticipatory bail,” Judge Sirsikar stated in his order dated March 7.
