Court seeks ED’s response to Deepak Talwar’s bail plea

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) A Delhi court on Tuesday sought Enforcement Directorate’s response to the bail application filed by corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in a money laundering case related to receiving foreign funding illegally.

While seeking bail, Talwar told Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar that no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody.

He asserted that the probe is already over and that there was no chance that the investigation could be hampered. The corporate lobbyist said the evidence in the case is documentary in nature and has already been recovered by the probe agency. The matter will now be heard on April 29.

The court had earlier dismissed his interim bail application moved on medical grounds in view of Covid-19 outbreak.

The court had said that Talwar was lodged in Tihar central jail where all the facilities were available.

The Enforcement Directorate had, on December 4, 2017, registered a case against the NGO Advantage India, controlled by accused Deepak Talwar, for alleged violation of FCRA rules and had begun its investigation to trail the proceeds of the crime.

The agency alleged that the foreign contribution obtained by the NGO in 2012-13 and 2015-2016 was “not utilized for the mandated purposes”. As much as Rs 90.72 crore funding was received from MBDA England (leading European missile manufacturer) and Airbus France under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) grant process.

According to an investigation undertaken by the agency, Advantage India did not spend funds on mandated purposes. The ED alleged that 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.

–IANS

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