Court turns down druglord Jagdish Bhola’s bail petition

Patiala,
The District and Sessions Court here today dismissed the bail petition of alleged druglord Jagdish Singh Bhola in the high-profile money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Bhola’s counsel advocate Satish Karkra had moved a plea for Bhola’s bail over two months ago. The arguments were completed on March 2 and the court had reserved the judgement for March 5.
Karkra said they would challenge the decision in the High Court. “We will move the higher judiciary once we receive a copy of the court order,” he said.
Karkra had pleaded that though more than a year had passed since the ED chargesheeted Bhola in the case, the agency had not presented any evidence in the court to date. A dismissed Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhola was arrested in November 2013. A huge cache of drugs was also recovered from him.
The police had claimed that through his illegal business, Bhola had allegedly made properties worth crores in different parts of the country. After investigations, the ED had presented a 1,300-page chargesheet in March last.
During arguments over the bail plea, Karkra contended that the ED had been working in a “very slow pace”. He had pleaded that it had been almost a year, but the ED had not presented any evidence in the court.
Karkra argued that the investigating agency had not even given any documentary proof to substantiate its claims that Bhola had made multi-crore properties from drug business. “If the ED continues to tackle the case at the same pace, it will last years…. My client Jagdish Bhola should not be put behind bars for such a long period even as the ED is yet to prove any charges against him,” he said.
The ED had argued that Bhola should not be granted bail as his case was sensitive. The arguments of both the parties were over on March 2 and the judge dismissed his bail petition today.