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Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar of the Delhi High Court has observed that while considering bail, the sword of Damocles cannot be allowed to hang over the accused's head merely on the assumption that the proceeds of crime may be higher.

The Court observed in this regard that:

“Merely on the assumption of the respondent that till date what has been uncovered is may be the tip of the iceberg and the proceeds of the crime may be much higher, damocles sword cannot be allowed to hang over the head of the petitioner when there are no allegations against him of threatening any witness or tampering with the evidence or he is a flight risk or not co-operated in the investigation and as far as the factual matrix is concerned, those are matter of trial.”

The Court was hearing a bail application in a case wherein the accused persons allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy from 2007 to 2014 and cheated and defrauded IFFCO and Indian Potash Limited (IPL), its shareholders and the Government of India.

The accused did the same by allegedly fraudulently importing fertilizers and other materials for fertilizer production at inflated prices by claiming higher subsidy from Government of India causing loss of several crores of rupees.

A charge-sheet in the form of complaint was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wherein it was alleged that a CBI case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PCA) against accused Amarendra Dhari Singh and other accused persons.

Dhari has contended that he during the course of investigation, had joined the investigation more than 20 times and had co-operated in the investigation by providing all the information and documents as per his knowledge.

Therefore taking note of the contentions the Court noted that:

"The statements of the witnesses U/s 50 of PMLA have already been recorded and there is only an apprehension that the petitioner would tamper with the evidence or threaten the witnesses but till date nothing has been placed on record to show that any such attempt has been made by the petitioner in this regard and there appears to be only an apprehension in this regard."

Thus the Court granted bail to the applicant.

Cause Title: Ankit Agarwal vs Directorate Of Enforcement