New Delhi: A Delhi court granted bail Wednesday to NRI businessman CC Thampi in a money laundering case related to Robert Vadra for allegedly acquiring assets abroad in an illegal manner.
Special judge Arvind Kumar noted that the main accused, Vadra, was already granted anticipatory bail in the case in April last year and Thampi was entitled to parity.
The court granted relief to Thampi on submitting a personal bond of Rs 5,00,000 with two sureties of like amount, saying that his conduct ‘does not show that he avoided probe or tried to flee from justice’.
The case relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property – located at 12, Bryanston Square – worth 1.9 million pounds, which is allegedly owned by Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
“The accused (Thampi) has joined investigation voluntarily and had come from Dubai to India in response to the summons issued by Enforcement Directorate (ED). The conduct of the accused does not show that he avoided investigation or tried to flee from justice. The accused is ready to join investigation as and when called,” the judge noted.
The court noted further that co-accused Manoj Arora, who allegedly played active role with Vadra in the offence of money laundering, was also granted anticipatory bail in April last year. “Thampi is also entitled to be treated on parity,” the court said.
The court also noted that Thampi suffered from ‘prostate cancer’ and had undergone proton radiation therapy in 2019 and was still under treatment at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
“He is in custody for 11 days. No purpose will be served by keeping the accused behind the bar,” the court said. “He shall join investigation as and when called by ED. Accused shall not leave country without prior permission of the court,” the judge stated.
Thampi was arrested by the ED on January 18. He is stated to be ‘controlling’ Dubai-based company ‘Sky Lite’.
PTI
