A plea by Special Public Prosecutor and senior advocate Anand Grover, challenging the Special Court’s order to release attached assets worth ₹742.58 crore in the Aircel-Maxis case, was met with scepticism by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The Special Court, on February 2, had ordered the release of the assets after dropping all charges in the case against the accused, including brothers Dayanidhi and Kalanithi Maran.
“The simple logic is that this money was found to be not part of any money laundering. So when there is no money, where is the laundering? If ₹742.58 crore is not part of any crime, then there is no money laundering,” a three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, observed orally.
“It was given in total consideration. That this is not a considered order is wrong. We do not agree on it,” Chief Justice Khehar added.
The court further said objections raised by Mr. Grover against the Special Court not having ordered extension of the bail bonds of the discharged accused was “too trivial.”
“Why did you come to us with this? You should have gone to the Special Court,” Chief Justice Khehar observed.
In response, Mr. Grover referred to orders passed by the Supreme Court in 2011 that any grievance against orders passed by the 2G Special Court should be directly addressed to the Supreme Court, which was monitoring the investigation in the 2G spectrum scam cases.
The Bench spotted certain defects in the petition filed by Mr. Grover and gave him liberty to amend it. The court has posted the plea for hearing next week.
