Court grants bail to Sachin Joshi in money laundering case, actor not allowed to leave country

Special PMLA court on Monday granted bail to businessman and actor-producer Sachin Joshi in a money laundering case linked to another city-based firm Omkar Realtors and Developers but imposed a set of conditions on him. ED had arrested Joshi on February 14 last year. Last year, Sachin Joshi was arrested under the sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), in the case of siphoning/diversion of bank funds to the tune of Rs 410 crore.

The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by City Chowk police station Aurangabad, Maharashtra against promoters of M/s Omkar Group in the month of March 2020. The said FIR alleged cheating and diversion of bank funds. “During the investigation, searches were conducted on various premises including residential and office premises of key persons and subsequently ED arrested Babulal Varma and Kamal Kishore Gupta, promoters of M/s Omkar Group, on January 27, 2021, under PMLA, 2002,” the release read.According to ED, the role of Sachin Joshi and his companies were found in the further diversion of said bank funds through non-genuine transactions. It was found that nearly Rs 87 Crores were diverted through such transactions. Accordingly, Sachin Joshi was summoned and questioned.

The 37-year-old actor-producer, who is also a businessman, is currently out on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court on medical grounds. His plea for regular bail was allowed by special judge MG Deshpande on a personal bond of Rs 30 lakh and two sureties of like amount. Among other bail conditions, the court asked him not to leave India till further orders and submit his passport with the ED. The court directed Sachin Joshi not to commit any acts that cause prejudice to the case's proceedings and not involve in any activity relating to "proceeds of crime". After the bail order was passed, the ED, through special public prosecutor Kavita Patil, filed a plea seeking three weeks time to challenge the ruling and a stay on implementation of the bail order. However, the court rejected the central probe agency's plea. In the bail application, filed through senior counsel Abad Ponda and advocate Subash Jadhav, Sachin Joshi had sought relief on the ground that the probe agency had failed to establish "proceeds of crime" linked to him.