Delhi Court Grants Bail To I-PAC Director Vinesh Chandel

A Delhi court today granted regular bail to Vinesh Chandel, director of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 13 in an alleged money laundering case. The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Amit Bansal at Patiala House Courts.

Significantly, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not oppose the bail plea. Taking note of this, the court observed that the stringent ‘twin conditions’ under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) may not apply in this case.

Interim Bail Rejected Earlier

Chandel’s interim bail plea had been rejected earlier this week, with the court stating that it did not meet the threshold of ‘exceptional humanitarian grounds’. 

He was arrested by the ED on April 13 after being questioned in connection with the case and was later remanded to judicial custody on April 23. Prior to that, the court had allowed the ED to interrogate him in custody for 10 days.

Why Was Vinesh Chandel Arrested?

Vinesh Chandel is a co-founder and holds a 33 per cent stake in Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the firm was involved in laundering proceeds of crime worth several crores.

The investigation is rooted in an FIR registered by Delhi Police and includes allegations of financial irregularities such as receipt of unaccounted funds, unsecured loans without business backing, issuance of bogus invoices, and routing of money through third parties.

The ED has also claimed that both domestic and international hawala channels were used to move funds, with around Rs 50 crore detected so far.

Earlier in January this year, the ED had conducted raids at I-PAC’s office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake, which led to a political face-off involving Mamata Banerjee.