Excise policy case: Delhi Court dismisses Vijay Nair's default bail plea

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Vijay Nair in a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the Excise Policy (now scrapped) case. Vijay Nair is the former Media and Communication In-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the former CEO of the entertainment and event management firm Only Much Louder.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John appeared for Nair and stated that the supplementary prosecution complaint has been filed by ED within the prescribed period of 60 days, but the same has been filed without actual completion of investigation qua him and hence, the said supplementary complaint can only be termed as a piecemeal and incomplete complaint or chargesheet, which has been filed by the investigating agency just to defeat the right of the applicant to be released on default bail in terms of provisions contained in U/S 167(2) Cr.P.C. Nair's lawyer also argued that the right to get default bail is a statutory right conferred upon an accused in terms of the above provisions and the same cannot be permitted to be defeated or scuttled by the investigating agency in the manner, in which it has been done in the present case.

It was further also argued that if the investigating agencies are permitted to file piecemeal or incomplete chargesheets or prosecution complaints to defeat the right to statutory bail accruing to an accused under the above provisions, then the very fabric of criminal jurisprudence will be destroyed as Section 173 Cr.P.C. imposes a duty upon the investigating agencies to file the chargesheets or prosecution complaints against the accused only when the investigation in a case is complete in all respects.