Allahabad High Court turns down ex-Noida authority chief engineer's bail plea in money-laundering case

Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has turned down the bail plea of former Noida Authority chief engineer Yadav Singh on technical grounds in connection with a money-laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him. A bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Rekha Dixit passed the order on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_3776967” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] Singh, in his bail petition, had contended that since a chargesheet was not submitted by the investigating agency within the statutory period, he was technically entitled to bail. The petitioner had also assailed the order of the special ED court, rejecting his bail plea earlier. Opposing the plea, the ED counsel said the chargesheet was forwarded within the statutory time limit and hence, Singh’s argument did not hold water. Considering that the chargesheet was filed “in time”, the court dismissed the petition. In 2015, the ED had slapped money-laundering charges against Singh, who was the engineer-in-chief of the Noida Authority, Greater Noida Authority and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, on the basis of an FIR lodged by the CBI. Earlier, an Income Tax raid in November 2014 had revealed that Singh’s assets were hugely disproportionate to his income, following which he was suspended by the then Uttar Pradesh government. The Allahabad High Court had directed the CBI, in July 2015, to investigate the case stating that the allegations were most serious.