Delhi Court extends interim bail to Deepak Talwar in case related to FCRA
May 04, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 4 : Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Monday extended the interim bail granted to corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in a case related to Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
The court said that the interim bail is extended till it resumes normal functioning and the prevailing restrictions are recalled by appropriate administrative directions by the High Court and District and Sessions Judge.
Talwar's counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir told the court that he was granted bail in another case registered by the ED but could not be released as the jail authorities have refused to do so due to the pendency of the present case.
Therefore, Talwar moved clarification application in the matter; as on March 23, this court granted him interim bail till April 15, taking note of the COVID-19 outbreak.
However, as per order dated March 25 passed by the High Court, it specifically mentions interim orders subsisting as on March 16. The purpose of the order is clearly to give protection to interim orders passed before restricted functioning of courts to prevent harassment and inconvenience to lawyers and litigants and to reduce fresh filing in the wake of restrictive functioning of the court.
On May 1, another Delhi Court granted bail to corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar in a money laundering case related to illegally receiving foreign funding.
Talwar is facing various corruption and money laundering cases related to his corporate deals.
Earlier, the court had taken cognisance of the ED charge-sheet in a case of alleged violations of FCRA by an NGO linked with Talwar.
The ED case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in November 2017 in a complaint of FCRA violations involving more than Rs 90 crore against Deepak Talwar.
The allegations are that Advantage India, an NGO, of which Deepak Talwar is a founding member, had received foreign contributions of Rs 90.75 crore from MBDA England (Leading European Missile Manufacturer) and Airbus France under CSR funding.
According to the ED, it has been revealed that Advantage India did not spend all the funds of FCRA on the mandated purposes and that the funds were siphoned off for non-mandated purposes by booking bogus expenditure under various heads to show that foreign donations were utilised for mandated purposes.
A Delhi court had earlier dismissed Talwar's interim bail application sought on medical grounds in view of coronavirus noting that he was lodged in Tihar central jail, where all the facilities were available.
