Hasan Ali's bail plea rejected again

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A Mumbai court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of alleged money launderer and tax evader Hasan Ali Khan, a lawyer said.

"Principal Sessions Judge Swapna Joshi has rejected the bail application filed on behalf of Mr. Khan," his lawyer Amit Desai said.

Khan was arrested in March last year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Several bail applications filed by his lawyers in the sessions court and one in the Bombay High Court have been rejected.

A few days after Khan was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Principal Sessions Judge M.L. Tahilyani granted him bail after observing that no charges had been proved against Khan.

The Supreme Court suspended the bail granted to the Pune stud farm owner.

An apex court said it was doing so in the face of extraordinary situations and the complexity of the situations involved in the money laundering cases against Khan.

The court also expressed its bewilderment over the detailed order of Tahilyani refusing the ED custodial interrogation of Khan and granting him bail.

The ED in May 2011 filed a charge sheet in the sessions court against Khan and his associate Kashinath Tapuriah, a Kolkata-based businessman.

Among other things, Khan is suspected to have stashed away around $8 billion in Swiss bank accounts, transferring cash and assets out of the country through dubious means and evading taxes on income with a suspected liability of over Rs.40,000 crore.