1-year jail not a prerequisite for bail to accused in laundering case: SC to ED

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said there was no "rule" that an accused in a money laundering case had to spend at least a year in jail before being granted bail , and gave relief to one of the accused in the Chhattisgarh liquor scam who had spent over nine months in custody.

As the counsel appearing for the Enforcement Directorate took the stand that bail could not be granted to the accused as he was arrested in Aug last year and had not completed a year behind bars, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said it was not a "rule" to be in custody for a year to get bail.

The ED counsel said SC had been following the one-year custody "benchmark" to grant bail in various cases, including that of former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, and argued that the yardstick be followed in the case of liquor scam accused Anwar Dhebar 's bail plea too.

The bench then asked the ED counsel whether he wanted the accused to spend seven years in jail which is the maximum sentence.