SC refuses to interfere with HC order granting bail to ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner in money laundering case

A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ahsanuddin Amanullah refused to entertain the plea filed by ED seeking cancellation of bail granted to Sanjay Pandey.

Enforcement Directorate has challenged Delhi High Court granting bail to ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a money laundering case relating to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location and phone tapping case.

Pandey was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on December 8 2022 in Enforcement Directorate (ED) case related to the NSE phone tapping case.

On December 21 2022, the Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi granted bail to Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in connection to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location and phone tapping case being probed by CBI.

Pandey was arrested by the ED on July 19 last year.

In August 2022, the trial court rejected Pandey's bail in the case and said the material available prima face showed he was actively involved in the execution of recording and monitoring of calls at the NSE, and was directly communicating with the bourse staff as well as those of the iSec Services Pvt Ltd, the company he founded and which was responsible for the cyber security audit of the NSE.

"Pandey is a 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who retired from service on June 30. During the investigation, Pandey was found to be closely associated with the functioning and activities of a company called iSec Securities Pvt. Ltd," the investigation agencies said.

The company had conducted a security audit of NSE around the time when the alleged co-location irregularities took place.

The company was incorporated by Pandey in March 2001 and he quit as its director in May 2006. His son and mother took over the charge of the company. It has been alleged that illegal phone tapping of NSE employees was done between 2009-17. (ANI)