The
Supreme Court on Monday extended till December 11 the interim bail granted to
former Delhi minister Satyendar Kumar Jain in a money laundering case.
The
apex court is seized of a plea filed by Jain challenging the April 6 order of
the Delhi High Court which had dismissed his bail plea in the case being probed
by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The
top court had on May 26 granted him interim bail on medical grounds for six
weeks. Later, the relief was extended by the court.
The
matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish
Chandra Sharma.
The
counsel appearing for Jain said a special bench comprising Justice A S Bopanna
and Justice Trivedi had earlier heard the arguments in the matter.
He
said since Justice Bopanna, the presiding judge of the bench, was not available
on Monday, the matter be listed for hearing on another date.
"We
have to see whether to continue the interim order because it can't be for such
a long time," Justice Trivedi observed.
Jain's
counsel requested the bench to list the matter for hearing next week.
While
adjourning the matter until December 11, the bench said, "Interim order to
continue".
The
ED had earlier claimed that the AAP leader was seeking repeated adjournments in
the trial court on grounds that his bail plea was pending before the apex
court. The probe agency had alleged that Jain has taken as many as 16 dates
from the trial court.
The
apex court had on May 26 granted interim bail to Jain for six weeks on medical
grounds, saying a citizen has a right to receive treatment of his choice in a
private hospital at his own expense.
The
ED had arrested the AAP leader on May 30 last year on the charge of money
laundering through four companies allegedly linked to him. It had arrested Jain
on the basis of a CBI FIR registered against him in 2017 under the Prevention
of Corruption Act.
Jain,
who has denied these allegations, was granted regular bail by the trial court
on September 6, 2019 in the case registered by the CBI.