Jafar Sadiq. File | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The Madras High Court on Monday (April 21, 2025) granted bail to drug smuggling, in which accused Bezos alias A. Jafar Sadiq and his brother A. Mohammad Salim registered a case in a case in 2024 in a case registered by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under the prevention of the 2002 Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Justice Sundar Mohan gave relief based on the orders of the Supreme Court in the case of former Delhi Deputy Minister Manish Sisodia, which believed that the High Courts and Trial Court should keep in mind that the bail is the rule and jail, an exception, and bail should not be kept as a way of punishment.
Senior advocate Abudu Kumar Rajrathinam and Sricharan Rangarajan, representing the brothers and sisters, had brought in notice of the judge that in the case of Manish Sisodia, the apex court said that the PMLA cases should not be denied bail even if there was no possibility of prolonged inequality and rapid testing.
Justice Mohan said that the ED had filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) against two brothers, for allegations of involvement in money laundering, based on cases of smuggling of three drugs booked by various agencies between 2015 and 2024.
The first drug against Prime accused Sadiq was booked by Chennai customs, Air Cargo Complex, Meenambakkam to export 50 kg of pseudophynne in 2015. However, eagerly, he was not yet arrested in the case, highlighting the judge.
The second case against him was booked in 2019 by Special Intelligence Investigation Branch, Air Cargo Complex, Sahar, Mumbai for efforts to export 38.867 kg of ketamine in 2019. This was the only case in which his brother Salim was also co-accused, and both of them got bail in the case.
The third drug case against SADIQ was booked for smuggling 50.070 kg of pseudophyn by the Control Bureau of Drugs (NCB) in New Delhi. He was arrested only after the case, the PMLA was invited by the first NCB and then by the ED, later the PMLA was invited.
Justice Mohan found that the ED had listed 20 accused in the PMLA case, but even the summons was not served on all the accused, although two petitioners were disrupted before the court since 2024. The judge also noted that a lot of witnesses were to be investigated in the case.
Since the trial was unlikely to be concluded in the near future, the judge granted bail to the brothers on the condition that each of them should execute a bond for to 5 lakhs with two certainty to the satisfaction of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases in Chennai.
The judge directed the petitioners to surrender their passport before the Special Court, appear regularly before the court and do not try to tamper the witnesses. Any attempt to influence the witnesses can motivate to cancel the bail, on the example of the prosecution, the judge warned.
The judge said, “Prolonged prevention of pre-test is orphan to the constitution besides the violation of the original human rights for the constitution. Therefore, the court is considering that the petitioners have violated their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of India according to further trial of the petitioners,” the judge said.
Published – April 21, 2025 11:47 AM IST
