JUDGMENT

Anup Jairam Bhambhani, J. - The applicant/Dr. Shivinder Mohan Singh seeks regular bail in the complaint case arising from Enforcement Case Information Report No. ECIR/05/DLZO-II/2019 dated 24.07.2019 (''ECIR'', for short) registered under sections 3/4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (''PMLA'', for short) by the respondent/Directorate of Enforcement (''ED'', for short).

Overview :

2. The backdrop of the present application is :

(a) that the applicant was arrested on 10.10.2019 in case FIR No. 50/2019 registered under sections 409/420/120-B IPC at PS : Economic Offences Wing (EOW), New Delhi, which are the predicate/scheduled offences under the PMLA. On 03.12.2019 the applicant was granted interim bail for a period of 7 days by the learned Special Judge in the predicate offence; upon the expiry of which period, the applicant duly surrendered;

(b) that on 12.12.2019, the applicant was also arrested in the ECIR by the ED;

(c) that the applicant remained in the ED''s custody for 14 days, during which time his statements were recorded under section 50 of the PMLA; after which, on 26.12.2019, the applicant was remanded to judicial custody;

(d) that on 01.01.2020, the applicant was also arrested by the PS: EOW in another case bearing FIR No. 189/2019 registered under sections 409/120-B IPC, in which also he stands remanded to judicial custody;

(e) that on 10.01.2020, the ED filed its complaint under sections 44/45 of the PMLA before the learned Special Judge, (PMLA), Saket District Courts, New Delhi, in which the applicant was named as an accused. Although the ED claims that further investigation is going-on in the matter, no supplementary complaint has been filed since 10.01.2020;

(f) that a regular bail application filed by the applicant before the learned Special Judge (PMLA) was rejected vid order dated 17.06.2020.

3. In all, there are four accused in the ED''s complaint : Malvinder Mohan Singh (applicant''s brother), Shivinder Mohan Singh (the applicant), Sunil Godhwani and M/s RHC Holding Pvt. Ltd.

4. Broadly, the ED''s allegations and contentions are the following :

(a) the applicant is stated to be a 50% shareholder and one of the promoters of one M/s RHC Holding Pvt. Ltd. (''RHC'', for short), which company along with the applicant and other associate entities in-turn is said to have held about 50% shareholding of one M/s Religare Enterprises Ltd. (''REL'', for short) as on 31.03.2016;

(b) M/s Religare Finvest Ltd. (''RFL'', for short) is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) recognised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is stated to be engaged in the business of providing loan facilities to small and medium enterprises. RFL is stated to be a subsidiary of REL, with REL holding 99.99% equity shares of RFL till 2015-16. In 2016-17, the equity shareholding of REL in RFL was reduced to 72.28% and subsequently in 2017-18, increased to 85.63% and remained at same level till 2018-19;

(c) the essence of the ED''s allegation is that between 2008 and 2016, RFL extended loan and other financial facilities to various entities to the tune of about INR 47,000 crores, of which a sum of around INR 2036.39 crores went into default; and the allegation is that this amount was given by RFL to entities which were, directly or indirectly, owned or controlled by the applicant, or in which the applicant otherwise had financial interest, including companies linked to RHC;

(d) it is further the allegation that the monies received from RFL by entities