NEW DELHI: A court here on Thursday dismissed the bail application of former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees.
Special judge Sunena Sharma said material available prima face showed Pandey was actively involved in recording and monitoring calls at NSE, and was directly communicating with bourse staff and those of the iSec, the company he founded and which was responsible for a cyber security audit of NSE.
The judge noted material collected by the investigating officer "prima face" showed the retired IPS officer was in de facto control of affairs of iSec even after 2006, when he resigned as a director, and kept attending meetings with NSE officials.
"The material shows that applicant was fully aware of real purposes for which the services of iSec were hired under the guise of 'periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities' and therefore, the money derived from the ostensible purpose prima facie seems to be the proceeds of crime within the meaning of Section 2(u) of PMLA," the judge said.
She said considering the broad probability based on material placed before court the involvement of the accused in the offence of money laundering could not be ruled out.
The judge said since the applicant was the chief of Mumbai Police till June 30, 2022, the apprehension of the investigating agency that he may influence witnesses or tamper with evidence was not unfounded.
"In view of my discussion, I do not find the case fit for granting of bail to Pandey, hence, the application is dismissed," she said in the order.
Pandey, arrested by Enforcement Directorate on July 19, is in judicial custody.
In her order, the judge said there was enough evidence on record to show that the call recording devices were installed by iSec directly between MTNL PRI lines before they were connected to the NSE EPABX.
The court noted the nomenclature given to the contract did not match with the work actually assigned to iSec in as much as illegal interception of calls or analysis of recorded calls had nothing to do with cyber security or any issue relating to cyber security of NSE.
ED had earlier arrested Chitra Ramkrishna, former MD and CEO of NSE in the phone tapping case on July 14.
Ramkrishna was already in jail in a CBI case relating to the scam at NSE involving alleged manipulation of the bourse. PTI
