Delhi court extends custody of man accused of cheating people by claiming to be close to politicians

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) A court here on Tuesday extended till June 16 the Enforcement Directorate’s custody of Sanjay Prakash Rai in a money laundering case related to allegedly cheating people of crores of rupees by claiming to be close to central ministers and the PMO.

“I have gone through the application as well as the record… Taking into consideration the reasons/grounds cited in the application for extension of police custody remand for the purpose of custodial interrogation of accused Sanjay Prakash Rai, three days police custody remand is given to ED,” vacation Judge Aparna Swami said.

The court passed the order on an application moved by the federal agency.

Rai had allegedly portrayed himself to be close to top politicians and ministers at the Centre as well as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and received Rs 6 crore in a bank account as donation from the Dalmia Family Office Trust.

Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta, appearing for the ED along with advocate Faizan Khan had moved an application claiming that on June 12 and 17 several premises, including the office premises of the companies wherein the accused had financial interest or where the accused was the ultimate beneficial owner, were searched and certain incriminating documents and digital records crucial for the purpose of investigation were recovered.

“The accused is needed for the purpose of custodial interrogation with respect to the huge digital/physical records, which have been seized,” the ED told the court.

The ED had filed the case on the basis of an FIR lodged in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Rai from Lucknow on April 26 in connection with a case of forgery, wherein he and his aides allegedly collected crores of rupees from several sources, individuals as well as organisations, by forging documents with a false reference to the PMO.