Supreme Court issues notice on plea to cancel former MP Chief Secretary Gopal Reddy's anticipatory bail

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted by the Telangana High Court to former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh M Gopal Reddy (Directorate of Enforcement v. M. Gopal Reddy and Anr)..A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli heard the plea. The notice was dispensed with as the counsel for the accused, Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vikas Singh, were present on caveat..Additional Solicitor General Jayant K Sud, appearing for the ED, submitted that money laundering activities have a crippling effect on the public exchequer and the economy of the country, and discourage thousands of corporations from investing their money in India..It was further argued that offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are cognisable and non-bailable, and therefore, the Act imposes stringent conditions for bail under Section 45.Additionally, it was stated that those involved in the operation were people of means, with deep-rooted connections in the political executive as well as the bureaucracy, and grant of bail would hamper the investigation, thus delaying the process of unearthing the financial fraud and tracing the proceeds of the crime..The issue pertains to the tender process in Madhya Pradesh for departments like the Water Resource Corporation, Water Development, PWD etc., through the process of e-procurement.M/s Antares Ltd, one of the signatories to the Tripartite agreement along with Tata Consultancy Services, had outsourced the process of performance testing of the e-procurement portal to M/s Osmo IT Solutions who were given access to digital signatures of the e-tender opening authority.The issue arose when the directors of M/s Osmo IT solutions, Vinay Chaudhary and Varun Chaturvedi were alleged to have used its passwords to tamper with e-tenders to suit the needs of a few beneficiaries, such as M/s Max Mantenna.It was alleged that huge bribes were given by M/s Osmo IT solutions to facilitate this fraud, as a result of which an FIR under sections 120B (conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC and Section 7 (Public servant gratification other than legal remuneration) read with Section 13(2) (public servant who commits criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered..The Bench directed the accused to file his response by the next date of hearing..[Read Order]