ED arrests Upendra Rai soon after bail in CBI case

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested journalist Upendra Rai under the money laundering law, soon after a Delhi court granted him bail in a case of alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions registered by the CBI.

An ED team put Rai under arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the Tihar jail here, officials said.

The Delhi-based scribe was arrested as he was required to be put under custodial interrogation. He will be produced before a court tomorrow, they said.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court had granted him bail on a bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

Seeking bail in the case, Rai had claimed that no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody.

The journalist had contended that he was not required for further custodial interrogation since the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea for it was rejected by the court on May 9.

Rai was arrested by the CBI on May 3.

He was arrested for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions, getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishing false information, alleged extortion and manipulation of an Income Tax Department case against a Mumbai-bound businessman.

The Supreme Court had on May 4 refused to interfere with his arrest.

The ED had registered a money laundering case against him based on this CBI FIR.

It had claimed to have recovered, after searches on Rai's premises and those linked to him, call data records of a senior ED official, an IAS officer earlier posted with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs besides confidential communication between Singapore-based Indian High Commission and a former ED chief.

The recoveries also included Income tax (IT) assessment orders of various companies and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) of nearly 140 companies generated by Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) after joint CBI-ED searches on Rai and his associates.

In his application seeking protection from arrest, Rai had claimed he was framed in the case because of his writings against an Enforcement Directorate officer who was part of the team probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

Prasun Roy, chief security officer of Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, was also booked by the CBI, which had carried out searches at eight locations in Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Mumbai.

In its FIR, CBI has alleged that going by the value of the transactions of over Rs one lakh during 2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51 crore was debited from it during the same period.