Money laundering case against M3M group: Supreme Court judge opts out from the hearing

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice K.V. Viswanathan on Monday recused himself from hearing petitions, including those filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in connection with a money laundering case linked to Gurugram-based realty group M3M.

The petitions were listed on Monday for hearing before a vacation bench of Justices A.S. Oka and Viswanathan.

As the matter came up for hearing, Justice Viswanathan said he had appeared in a connected matter as a lawyer earlier and the bench said the matter would be listed before an appropriate bench next week.

Justice Viswanathan was a senior advocate and he was elevated as a judge last month.

The ED has moved the top court challenging the Delhi High Court order, passed earlier this month, granting M3M Group owners Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal interim protection from arrest till July 5 in connection with the case.

Separate petitions against a high court order, passed earlier this month, declining to interfere with the arrest of the Bansals in a money laundering probe linked to an alleged bribery case were also listed for hearing before the apex court on Monday.

Earlier, the ED had arrested the two Bansals, directors of Gurugram-based realty group, in connection with the money laundering probe linked to the alleged bribery case.

On June 9, the high court had granted them interim protection from arrest till July 5 in a money laundering case linked to real estate firm IREO.

The money laundering case for which the Bansals were arrested stems from an FIR filed by the Haryana Police's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Sudhir Parmar, a former special judge for ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases who was posted in Panchkula, his nephew and a third M3M group director Roop Kumar Bansal.

The FIR alleged that Parmar showed favouritism to the accused individuals in the criminal cases of the ED and CBI pending in his court.