The Supreme Court on Tuesday has agreed to hear the bail plea of Chhattisgarh businessman Sunil Dammani on October 3.
Dammani was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in August last year for his alleged involvement in a money laundering case linked to the illegal gambling app Mahadev.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted the urgency of the matter after Damani’s lawyer argued that his client had been in jail for over 13 months.
The CJI responded, “We usually do not skip the board (cases listed for hearing on a given day), but this is a bail plea… We will hear it on Thursday.”
Dammani was arrested on August 23, 2022, alongside three others, following ED investigations that included searches at the properties of ten individuals, including Vinod Verma, a political advisor to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
Along with Dammani, his brother Anil, Chhattisgarh Police assistant sub-inspector Chandra Bhushan Verma, and Satish Chandrakar, all from Raipur, were taken into custody. The ED’s case originates from a 2022 FIR filed by state police regarding the Mahadev app at the Mohan Nagar police station in Durg district.
The ED claims that the Dammani brothers own a jewelry shop and a petrol pump, and were allegedly involved in hawala transactions.
ASI Verma is accused of accepting money from the other defendants to protect them from police action and is suspected of bribing other police officials as well.
