BAIL APPLN. 2409/2022

Page 1 of 48

$~7

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Judgment reserved on : 27.09.2022

Judgment pronounced on: 08.12.2022

+

BAIL APPLN. 2409/2022 & CRL.M.(BAIL) 957/2022

SANJAY PANDEY

..... Petitioner

Through:

Mr. Akhil Sibal, Sr. Advocate with

Mr. Aditya Wadhwa, Mr. Siddharth

Sunil, Mr. Shivansh Agarwal, Mr.

Pranay Mohan, Ms. Sanya Kumar and

Mr. Ranbir Singh, Advocates

versus

DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT

..... Respondent

Through:

Mr. S.V. Raju, Ld. ASG with Mr.

Zoheb Hossain, Mr. Vivek Gurnani,

Mr. Ankit Bhatia, Advocates with Mr.

Sushant, EO, ED

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASMEET SINGH

J U D G M E N T

JASMEET SINGH, J.

1.

This is BAIL APPLN. 2409/2022 to enlarge the applicant on regular

bail in ECIR/DLZO-I/28/2022 registered on the basis of FIR bearing

RC No. 2212022E0030 registered by CBI/EO-III/Delhi.

2.

It has been stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs on 19.05.2022

Digitally Signed byAMIT

ARORA

Signing Date:08.12.2022

14:31:26

Signature Not Verified

BAIL APPLN. 2409/2022

Page 2 of 48

and 20.05.2022 sent two communications to Central Bureau of

Investigation

(hereinafter referred to as „CBI‟) against M/s. ISEC SERVICES PVT.

LTD. and Sh. Sanjay Pandey, the applicant herein and :-

(i)

Smt. Santosh Pandey;

(ii)

Sh. Anand Narayan;

(iii)Sh. Armaan Pandey;

(iv)

Sh. Manish Mittal;

(v)

Sh. Naman Chaturvedi;

(vi)

Sh. Ravi Varanasi;

(vii)Sh. Mahesh Haldipur;

(viii)Sh. Ravi Narain;

(ix)

Ms. Chitra Ramkrishna;

(x)

Sh. Arun Kumar Singh; and

(xi)

Other unknown persons.

3.

It is stated that ISEC SERVICES PVT. LTD. in conspiracy with other

accused illegally intercepted MTNL lines at National Stock Exchange

(hereinafter referred to as „NSE‟) between 2009 to 2017 and recorded

calls by various NSE officials. The transcript of these calls was

thereafter made available by ISEC to NSE officials. No other phone

lines outside NSE are alleged to have been recorded or monitored. It

is further stated that the telephone monitoring was carried out by

ISEC without taking permission of the competent authority as

required under Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and also it

was without the knowledge and consent of NSE employees. It has

further been stated that for the work carried out between 2009 to

Digitally Signed byAMIT

ARORA

Signing Date:08.12.2022

14:31:26

Signature Not Verified

BAIL APPLN. 2409/2022

Page 3 of 48

2017, ISEC was paid a sum of Rs. 4.54 crores by NSE. The FIR No.

RC2212022E0030 dated 07.07.2022 was registered on the allegations

levelled by CBI under Sections 120-B read with 409 and 420 of the

Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“IPC”) and Sections 69B, 72, 72A of the

Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and Sections 20, 21, 24

& 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (“Telegraph Act”) and

Sections 3 & 6 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and

Section 13(2) r/w Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption

Act, 1988 (“PC Act”) at PS – EO-III, CBI, Delhi.

4.

Thereupon, the Directorate of Enforcement has registered the ECIR

bearing no. ECIR/DLZO-I/28/2022 on 11.07.2022 allegations of

scheduled offences. Pursuant to the FIR, the CBI carried out search in

the office premises of ISEC and seized various articles and properties.

The CBI also carried out a search of the applicant and seized his

mobile phone. The ED arrested applicant on 19.07.2022 and the CBI

arrested the applicant on 24.09.2022.

5.

The applicant states that in or around 2009, NSE approached ISEC

with a request to engage its services for analysis of calls that NSE was

recording of its employees. As per ISEC, NSE had been monitoring

calls from the landlines installed in its premises since 1997. As per the

proposal, NSE was to be provided a hard drive containing pre-

recorded call data of its employees and ISEC was required to listen to

the data provided by NSE on a weekly basis and submit a report to