New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday granted permission to the Enforcement Directorate to rely on the report of court-appointed forensic auditors in its charge sheet to be filed against Unitech's former promoters Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra and others.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah gave permission to the ED to rely on the Grant Thornton report with the probe agency saying it will make the case stronger against the Chandras.

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It ordered, “Since ED has stated that it is filing a prosecution complaint under the PMLA, it is clarified that the order dated October 6, 2021, shall not preclude the ED from annexing the report to the prosecution complaint and to rely upon the document.

"With the above clarification, permission is granted to the ED to file the report of the forensic auditors, Grant Thornton with the prosecution complaint to be filed before the special court for offences punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The IA is accordingly disposed of."

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At the outset, Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, appearing for the ED, submitted that the agency is going to file the charge sheet next week in the money laundering case lodged against the Chandras.

“This court has on October 6, 2021 refused to share the forensic auditors report with Chandra brothers and since now ED wants to rely upon the report, the agency is seeking court's permission and modification of the order,” Divan said.

The top court said, “The Interlocutory Application (IA) has been moved by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). The ED has stated that it would be filing a supplementary prosecution complaint before the special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, against the accused persons and for that purpose, it needs to annex the report of forensic auditors, Grant Thornton to the prosecution complaint”.

It noted that by an order dated October 6, 2021, a request of the accused for a copy of the report was not acceded to at that stage, since the report of forensic auditors was a subject matter of investigation which was being conducted by the ED.

The bench also allowed realty firm Unitech's founder Ramesh Chandra to move the special PMLA court at Patiala House Court here to seek bail in a recent case registered against him by the ED.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Ramesh Chandra, said he only wants to inform the court that Ramesh is moving the trial court for bail as he is 84-years old and has been in custody for the past four months.

“I just wanted to inform the court because it should not be like it has happened behind the apex court's back. It is my legal right hence I am moving the trial court for bail,” Dave said.

he bench said that it understands that the application is for seeking permission to bail, so that there is no overreach of any kind. It allowed Ramesh Chandra to move the trial court for bail saying it has not expressed any opinion on the matter.

Dave said he has moved another application seeking weekly video conferencing meetings with the lawyers and family members with the accused Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, who are lodged in Mumbai jails.

The top court said that it cannot allow weekly meetings but allowed Sanjay and Ajay Chandra, to have video conference meetings once every fortnight and said that their family members can talk to them as per the jail manual.

The bench said that lawyers seeking to have meetings with the accused have to give their identity like bar council licence number to the jail authorities, before any virtual meeting is conducted.

On November 10 last year, the top court had said that it is a “sorry state of affairs” in Tihar Jail which has become a den of criminals and murders are happening there, and had directed the Home Ministry to take immediate steps on prison reforms and enhance management.

The ED had earlier made a startling revelation that it had unearthed a “secret underground office” here which was being operated by erstwhile Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra and visited by his sons Sanjay and Ajay when on parole or bail.

Both Sanjay and Ajay who are in jail since August 2017 are accused of allegedly siphoning home buyers' money.

On August 26 last year, the apex court directed that the Chandra brothers be shifted from Tihar Jail in the national capital to Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail and Taloja prison in Maharashtra after the ED had said that they were conducting business from the premises in connivance with the staff.

Under the direction of the top court, the Chandra brothers were shifted to jails in Mumbai.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)