Delhi Court asks Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file reply on lobbyist Deepak Talwar’s bail plea

A Delhi court asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday to file a detailed response on the bail application filed by corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in a money laundering case. Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar asked the ED to file the reply by April 24. During the hearing through video link, ED’s counsel Amit Mahajan opposed Talwar’s bail application following which the matter was adjourned till next date. Talwar, in his bail application, said since the probe was complete, no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody, and added, there was no chance of investigation being hampered. The ED had, on December 4, 2017, registered a case against the NGO Advantage India, controlled by Talwar, for alleged violation of FCRA rules and had begun investigation to trail the crime proceeds. The agency alleged the foreign contribution obtained by the NGO in 2012-13 and 2015-2016 was “not used for the mandated purposes”. Rs 90.72 crore funding was received from MBDA England (leading European missile manufacturer) and Airbus France under the corporate social responsibility grant. According to ED, Advantage India didn’t spend funds on mandated purposes. A criminal conspiracy was hatched to divert funds for non-mandated purposes, by booking bogus expenditure in the books of account on the basis of forged documents, the ED alleged. (IANS)

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