The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined anticipatory bail to a chartered accountant in a money laundering probe arising out of an alleged ₹640 crore cyber fraud, and directed him to surrender within ten days. The Court upheld the Delhi High Court’s order denying pre-arrest bail.
A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Augustine George Masih affirmed the February 2 decision of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of Bhaskar Yadav and Ashok Kumar Sharma.
In its 22-page judgment, the High Court had observed that the case involved an “intricate mesh of laundering of money” and accepted the Enforcement Directorate’s submission that custodial interrogation was necessary.
The High Court recorded that the accused, described as skilled professionals, had allegedly structured the laundering of proceeds of crime through multiple layers. It held that meaningful investigation required custodial interrogation to trace the movement of funds.
Rejecting the argument that the matter merely involved cryptocurrency transactions, the Court clarified that crypto dealings per se are not an offence in India, but noted that the case involved funds allegedly extracted from “gullible investors” and routed through complex channels.
While acknowledging that personal liberty is a valuable right, the High Court held that it could not override the need for an effective investigation in a case involving serious economic offences.
The High Court also took note of allegations that the accused had:
- assaulted investigating officers,
- attempted to bribe local police to settle cyber fraud complaints, and
- destroyed electronic evidence.
These factors weighed against the grant of anticipatory bail.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the money laundering investigation arises from two FIRs registered by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing concerning cyber fraud of about ₹640 crore.
The agency has alleged that:
- funds were siphoned from victims through betting, gambling, phishing, and fake part-time job scams,
- the money was layered through more than 5,000 mule bank accounts in India,
- the proceeds were routed to a UAE-based payment platform, and
- part of the amount was withdrawn in cash in Dubai using debit and credit cards issued by Indian banks.
The ED has further claimed that the laundering operation was carried out through a network involving chartered accountants, company secretaries and crypto traders.
By upholding the High Court’s reasoning, the Supreme Court declined to grant pre-arrest protection and directed Bhaskar Yadav to surrender within ten days, thereby permitting the investigating agency to proceed in accordance with law.
