Supreme Court: Confessions of PMLA accused to investigating officers not admissible as evidence

Supreme Court of India. (iStock)

Reiterating its decision while granting bail to former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia in the alleged liquor scam case, the court said, “Based on the judgment in the Manish Sisodia case, we have stated that even in the PMLA case, bail is the rule and jail is the exception.”

Also read: SC questions selective approach of ED, CBI in granting bail to K Kavitha

The hearing

“Section 45 merely lays down the conditions to be satisfied for bail. Liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation of liberty under the procedure laid down by law is the exception. The double test does not override this principle,” the court said, according to Bar and Bench.

It said that Section 25 of the Evidence Act (confessions inadmissible) would be applied on a case-by-case basis in the PMLA.

“We are of the view that statements made by the accused which are deemed to be incriminating fall under Section 25. It would be a farce to declare the statement admissible merely because he was in custody at the time for another ECIR. It would be extremely unfair to declare such statements admissible as it would be contrary to all principles of justice,” the court said.

The Court concluded that the applicant was not guilty of the offences and that it was unlikely that he would tamper with evidence and therefore found that this was a suitable case for release on bail.

The court subsequently granted bail to Prakash subject to furnishing of a surety bond of Rs 500,000 and such other conditions as the court may specify.

Also read: What the Supreme Court said while granting bail to Manish Sisodia

Arrests in the alcohol scandal were made based on statements

BRS MLC K Kavitha, who was released on bail on Tuesday, was arrested on April 11 based on the statements of other accused in the alleged Delhi Excise Police cheating case and WhatsApp chats recovered from the phone of co-accused Butchibabu – who later turned out to be an aide.

The court, while hearing their bail application, questioned the fairness of the central agencies – CBI and ED – in the investigation and criticised their selective approach in treating some of the accused as approvers

The ED arrested Sisodia on February 26, citing Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which allows arrest of persons involved or accused in the case if the investigating officer has “reason to believe” that the person is “guilty” of money laundering.

While Sisodia was in custody, the CBI confronted him with the statements of his former secretary C. Arvind and the then Customs Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna in connection with the alleged manipulation of customs policy.

The ED arrested Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy's son Magunta Raghava Reddy in connection with the Delhi liquor scam on February 11, 2023.

According to sources, Raghava's arrest was based on information from two other persons – Punjab businessman Gautam Malhotra and Rajesh Joshi, an aide of Vijay Nair, the communications chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

He later served as approver of the case.

(South first is now on WhatsApp and Telegram)