HC granted bail to the applicant in a money laundering case...

HC granted bail to the applicant in a money laundering case after 3 years and 10 months of incarceration, applying Section 436A of CrPC which prevails over Section 45 of PMLA. The court determined that since the applicant had served more than half of the maximum possible 7-year sentence and trial had not commenced, continued detention would infringe Article 21 rights. Bail was granted on Rs. 10,00,000/- bond with conditions including bi-monthly reporting to ED Mumbai, restricted entry to Pune district except for trial purposes, passport surrender, and regular trial attendance. The court emphasized that while PMLA imposes strict bail conditions, prolonged pre-trial detention without trial commencement warrants bail consideration to protect constitutional rights.

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