March 11, 2011 9:06 PM

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Mumbai court grants conditional bail to Hasan Ali

Mumbai Sessions Court today granted conditional bail to Pune businessman Hasan Ali Khan, accused of massive money laundering and tax evasion. Principal Judge M L Tahiliyani dismissed Enforcement Directorate – ED's plea for Khan’s custody saying there is no substantial evidence against him. Judge Tahiliyani slammed ED for framing a flimsy case and said that the evidence submitted to the court was contradictory to each other. The court also rejected all the confidential documents that were submitted yesterday by ED’s counsel Rajeev Awasthi, saying that all that material was available freely on the internet.The court also questioned ED’s lack of preparedness by raising doubts over the genuineness of the documents submitted as proof. The Judge said that prima facie there is no case of money laundering against Hasan Ali. Judge Tahiliyani however, asked Hasan Ali to stay in Mumbai for five days and allowed ED to question him further in the next 48 hours to prepare a foolproof case. Meanwhile, ED’s counsel Rajeev Awasthi claimed that there is overwhelming proof against Khan but the court did not accept it. The Enforcement Directorate said, it will challenge the order and move higher court. Khan was alleged to have stashed over 8 billion dollars in UBS Bank in Switzerland and made other illegal transactions abroad. He was arrested on Monday and he has been in the Directorate's custody since then. BJP and Left parties today alleged that the Enforcement Directorate lacked conviction in pursuing the case against Pune based businessman Hasan Ali Khan. Talking to reporters outside Parliament BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the Mumbai court's order to grant bail to Ali for want of evidence, raises serious questions over the functioning of the Enforcement Directorate and the Government. CPI(M) leader Basudev Acharya also alleged that the government is not keen on pursuing Hasan Ali's case.

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