Madras HC reserves order on bail pleas of Sekhar Reddy, associates

The three were arrested by the ED on March 20 in connection with the seizure of Rs 34 crore in new Rs 2,000 currency notes post-demonetisation in December last year.

Chennai, Apr 26: Madras High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the bail petitions of sand mining baron Sekhar Reddy and two of his two associates, arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of money laundering.

Justice S Bhaskeran reserved orders on the petitions by Reddy and his associates K Srinivasulu and Premkumar without specifying any date. The three were arrested by the ED on March 20 in connection with the seizure of Rs 34 crore in new Rs 2,000 currency notes post-demonetisation in December last year.

Justice Bhaskeran also reserved orders on the anticipatory bail petitions of two other associates of Reddy -- S Ramachandran and K Rathinam -- in connection with the case. Principal Sessions Judge A Nazeema Banu had on April 7 rejected bail petitions of Reddy, Srinivasulu and Premkumar.

In a related legal development, the PSJ extended the judicial remand of Reddy and other two till May 10. While Reddy appeared through video conferencing, the other two were produced before the Judge.

ED counsel told the court that the officials of the directorate would interrogate the three in the prison for five days as per the permission granted earlier. They have been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on an FIR registered by CBI over the seizure of the cash. The three had been granted bail by a court in the CBI case on March 17.

PTI