Ram Niwas Pal, an alleged mastermind of the over Rs 2,200 crore SpeakAsia marketing scam in which 24 lakh people were duped, has been denied bail by a court which rapped Delhi Police for keeping him under illegal detention since December 16 last year.
Irked by police’s response on the issue of extension of Pal’s judicial custody, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Kamini lau directed the DCP concerned to be present before the court on the next date of hearing.
The judge also said that the prosecution shall advise the police on provisions of law requiring extension of remand and the penalty for illegal detention of the accused. The court order came during the hearing of the bail plea of Niwas, who was nabbed from Bangalore on November 30, 2013 in a case wherein he, his brother Ram Sumiran Pal along with a friend allegedly cheated 24 lakh investors from Delhi, Mumbai and other cities through the online marketing scheme.
They had devised the SpeakAsia scheme wherein people had to deposit Rs 11,000 and fill survey forms and were promised Rs 52,000 in return. Niwas’ counsel Amit Kumar sought his relief on the ground that his client was kept in illegal detention since December 16, 2013 and the investigators have not sought any extension of his judicial custody till date.
“The accused is not only liable to be granted bail but the erring police officers responsible for this continuing illegal detention are required to be proceeded against and also penalised for the same in accordance with the law,” Kumar told the court. The prosecution informed the court that when the ACP concerned was asked regarding the non-extension of Pal’s remand, the police officer had said that the accused had been taken into custody by Mumbai police in some other case and that “he had not heard of any procedure which makes it obligatory for them to secure his appearance before the court”.