The Enforcement Directorate filed a second chargesheet against Misa Bharti, daughter of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and her husband, Shailesh Kumar, in a money laundering case before a Delhi court on Saturday. The court kept both chargesheets for consideration on February 5.
Irked over the repeated filing of chargesheets against the couple, Special Judge N.K. Malhotra berated the agency for not letting the trial begin.
“Will you let the trial begin or keep filing complaints? How many supplementary chargesheets will you file? You are a premier investigating agency. You cannot behave like this. It is an ill-drafted complaint,” the judge said.
More time sought
The court, which could not take cognisance of the chargesheet filed on December 23 against the couple, posted the matter for February 5 after the ED’s special counsel, Atul Tripathi, sought time to make further submissions.
Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing chartered accountant Rajesh Agrawal, who was also arrested by the ED in connection with the case, sought adjournment citing pendency of the bail plea of brothers Surendra Kumar Jain and Virendra Jain, who have been accused of laundering crores of rupees using shell companies.
Rajesh Agrawal was arrested by the ED following allegations that he mediated and provided ₹90 lakh in cash to the Jain brothers in advance to invest in Ms. Bharti’s firm Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd “as share premium”.
The agency had earlier attached a Delhi farmhouse in connection with its investigation against Ms. Bharti and her husband.
The farmhouse, at 26 Palam Farms in the Bijwasan area of south Delhi, was attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It belongs to the couple and is “held in the name of Mishail Packers and Printers Private Ltd.”, the agency said.
