Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi escaped due to delay in arrests: Mumbai Court
“It is the ED which basically allows such person to be scot free without any apprehensions of his travelling abroad," said Mumbai court.
Fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, and Mehul Choksi escaped the country because investigating agencies failed to arrest them in time, a Mumbai court said.
On May 30, Judge MG Deshpande, handling a money laundering case, made this point while hearing Vyomesh Shah's request to relax his bail conditions to travel abroad for work. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the request, fearing a repeat of the fugitive businessmen’s cases, Bar and Bench reported.
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The judge said the agencies' failure to act promptly allowed these businessmen to flee.
“I thoughtfully examined this argument and felt it necessary to note that all these persons fled because of the failure of the investigating agencies concerned in not arresting them at proper time,” the judge said.
Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya are in the UK and have been declared Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEOs). Choksi is in Dominica, and the ED is seeking to declare him an FEO.
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Vyomesh Shah, accused in a 2022 money laundering case, was released on bail but barred from leaving the country without court permission. He argued that frequent travel was necessary for his work. The judge agreed to relax the condition, stressing that the court couldn't fix the ED's initial failures. Shah must inform the ED of his travel plans before each trip.
“It is the ED which basically allows such person to be scot free without any apprehensions of his travelling abroad, tampering and hampering evidence, flight risk, apprehension of dealing with complaint and assisting the said process etc. but for the first time when such person appears before the Court all such contentions and objections astonishingly crop up before the Court. So, this Court has repeatedly taken firm stand that, the Court cannot do what the ED basically failed to do,” the judge said.
