How long will you keep them in jail without framing charges? Supreme Court raises questions on ED’s conviction rate

New Delhi : Soumya Chaurasia, former deputy secretary of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, has got interim bail from the Supreme Court. ED is investigating Soumya in a money laundering case. A bench of Justice Suryakant, Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan has given this relief to Soumya. The court has given this decision on the time spent by Soumya in jail and the charges not being framed in the case yet. Soumya is accused of being involved in the coal scam and she was in jail for the last one year and nine months. The Supreme Court has also made it clear in its order that even after getting interim bail, the Chhattisgarh government will not reinstate Soumya to her post. Her suspension will continue till further orders. The apex court has expressed displeasure over keeping the accused in jail without framing charges and the low conviction rate of ED.

Justice Bhuyan said, ‘How long can you keep someone in jail without framing charges? What is the conviction rate in PMLA cases? In Parliament, he/she said that only 41 cases have resulted in conviction.’ Justice Bhuyan also asked the ED if it can keep an accused in jail for years?

Senior advocates Siddharth Dave, Pallavi Sharma and Harshvardhan Panganiha presented arguments on behalf of Soumya Chaurasia, while Additional Solicitor General SV Raju presented the ED’s side.

Earlier, the Chhattisgarh High Court had rejected Chaurasia’s third bail plea on August 28. She was in jail since December 2022. After the bail plea was rejected by the High Court, she approached the Supreme Court.

According to the ED, a total of Rs 500 crore was embezzled in 16 months. The central agency claims that this money was used to fund elections and as bribes. On the other hand, Chaurasia termed the allegations baseless and said that there is no concrete evidence of his/her involvement in the alleged scam. No money has been recovered from him/her. On December 14 last year, the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Saumya Chaurasia.