Supreme Court denies bail to deputy secretary of former CM Bhupesh Baghel; slaps ₹1 lakh costs

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a bail plea filed by suspended bureaucrat Saumya Chaurasia, the then Deputy Secretary of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, in connection with a money-laundering case [Saumya Chaurasia vs Directorate of Enforcement]..A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi also imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on Chaurasia, on finding that certain facts were wrongly stated in her petition.The fact in question was that the chargesheet had been filed after the judgment had been reserved, even as the petition before the Supreme Court argued that the chargesheet had not been considered..While pronouncing the operative part of the verdict, Justice Bela Trivedi today stated,"We have observed on basis of certificate of petitioner and that circulated by the Advocate-On-Record .. It cannot be gainsaid that full disclosures have to be made, and a degree of professionalism is to be expected particularly by designated and senior counsel. On merits also we have not found anything. Since incorrect facts were stated, we have dismissed the appeal with costs of one lakh.".The Court was hearing petition challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court's June 2023 order refusing to grant bail to Chaurasia, who has been in jail for over a year. .The money laundering case filed against her was related to a coal scam case in Chhattisgarh. The coal scam involved allegations of extortion and collection of illegal levies for coal mining and transport in the State.According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s probe, the amount so scammed was ₹500 crore in 16 months, with the money allegedly being used to fund polls and for various bribes.It is the central agency's case that the funds were used by Chaurasia to purchase benami assets to benefit the coal mafia and conniving State government officials. Further, she allegedly exerted pressure on fellow officers to comply using her position in the Chief Minister's office.Chaurasia, on the other hand, contended that there was no concrete evidence of her involvement in the alleged scam, and that no recovery of money has been made from her till date..The apex court noted that the petition submitted that the scheduled offences of criminal conspiracy and extortion had been dropped from the chargesheet. The Court, unimpressed, stated,"The Certificate at the end of the SLP appears to have been given by the Advocate-on-Record appearing for the Appellant without verifying the facts which were otherwise very apparent from the record ... an impudent attempt was sought to be made by alleging all throughout in the synopsis, list of dates, questions of law and the grounds in the SLP that the High Court had grossly erred in not appreciating the said documents." It termed the said conduct a bold attempt to misrepresent facts."It is unbelievable that the battery of lawyers appearing for the appellant did not notice the apparent fact ... It cannot be gainsaid that every party approaching the court seeking justice is expected to make full and correct disclosure of material facts and that every advocate being an officer of the court, though appearing for a particular party, is expected to assist the court fairly in carrying out its function to administer the justice." The bench emphasised that a very high standard of professionalism and legal acumen is expected from senior counsel in the top court, so they can be emulated by those in courts below. Even on merits, it was held that a prima facie case was made out against the accused, and hence bail was not warranted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The costs were directed to be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority..Supreme Court grants relief to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, holds PIL against CM alleging money laundering not maintainable.Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Siddharth Aggarwal appeared for Chaurasia before the top court.Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the ED..[Read judgment]