Money laundering case: SC notice to Jharkhand Govt.

New Delhi, June 8 (ANI): The Government of Jharkhand on Tuesday was issued a notice by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by an accused who was seeking bail in a money laundering case.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda is a main accused in the case.

A vacation bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Deepak Verma and Justice K S Radhakrishnan issued the notice after senior counsel R Venkataramani told the court that his client, Vikas Kumar Sinha, was being kept in incarceration since November 6, 2009 even though all investigations against him were complete.

Venkataramani said his client was not being released due to Koda's interrogation remaining incomplete.

The case against Sinha, he further said, had nothing to do with the pending probe against Koda.

He claimed that the rejection of Sinha's bail application both by the trial court and the high court violated Article 21 of the Indian Constitution that guarantees protection of life and liberty of Indian citizens.

The petitioner's counsel said the entire case, including a vigilance case and the prosecution story, was based on newspaper reports.

Venkataramani said Sinha could not be tried under those provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act that were incorporated in the Act after the alleged commissioning of the offence.

The article says that "no person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of the law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence," he said. (ANI)