The Supreme Court of India on Friday affirmed its previous ruling that it would provide interim bail to Gujarat-based journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case, which was connected to an alleged financial fraud being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Ahmedabad.
The interim relief granted had been initially granted on December 15 last year and was upheld by a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi. When the court heard further submissions in the case, it ruled that the interim bail order should be made absolute and Langa would remain on bail under the same terms.
In the course of the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was defending ED, asked the Supreme court to make it clear that any observations in the previous bail order should not be taken as an observation on the merits of the case. This argument was admitted by the bench, with the focus that the trial court has to evaluate the evidence alone without being affected by any previous statements.
The continuation of bail was argued by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Langa, with the ED once again arguing about the severity of the charges. The agency had previously contended that cases of journalists purportedly practicing extortion by threatening to publish negative stories, was a serious crime.
The highest court insisted on tough terms of bail such as a ruling that Langa could not publish anything to do with the pending case. The court also directed speedy hearings, directing the special PMLA court to hold day-to-day hearings, frame charges where necessary and take statements of key witnesses as early as possible.