JUDGMENT :

RAHUL BHARTI, J.

1. Heard the learned counsel for both sides. Perused the pleadings and the documents therewith.

2. The petitioner is suffering continuing judicial custody on account of his arrest carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement (“ED” in short) Srinagar Zonal Office by reference to a Case No. ECIR/SRZO/04/2021 dated 31.03.2021.

3. The petitioner came to be arrested on 30.11.2023 by the ED in purported exercise of its power to arrest vested under section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

4. The factual background in which the ED came to emerge on the scene and register an Enforcement Case Information Report (“ECIR” in short) No. ECIR/SRZO/04/2021 dated 31.03.2021 needs to be set out first before coming to deal with the facts and circumstances of the present case in light of which the petitioner is pressing for and seeking bail under section 439 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 read with section 44(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

5. The petitioner is claimed to have been elected to be on the Board of Directors of the J&K State Cooperative Bank, Srinagar in December 2018. The tenure of the elected Board of Directors of the J&K S