SC grants bail to man accused of extortion

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to an accused in a money-laundering case in which he allegedly posed as a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers to extort money for getting people’s work done.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh set aside the Allahabad High Court order of February 5, refusing bail to Mohammad Kashif, who has been in custody for nearly three years.

It granted bail to the accused after he undertook not to use the names of high constitutional functionaries.

The bench directed the accused to cooperate in the trial of the case, failing which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will be at liberty to seek the cancellation of his bail.

The ED registered a case against him on April 19, 2023, based on a case of forgery and cheating lodged at Gautam Budh Nagar police station in Uttar Pradesh.

It was alleged the accused was involved in extortion of money from people for getting their work done from government departments by impersonating as a close associate of the prime minister and Union ministers. Inputs were generated from surveillance regarding national security, and suspicious activities were noticed with respect to Kashif for the last two years.

The agency alleged that Kashif extorted money by unauthorisedly posting morphed/edited photos with the prime minister and Union ministers on his social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram to influence people to gain personal financial benefits.

The probe agency said the scrutiny further revealed that by influencing people by impersonating closeness to ministers, he allegedly got work contracts from the Government of Rajasthan and other departments.

Kashif was intercepted by Noida police in a Mercedes car along with three mobile phones and the examination of his social media accounts revealed that he had posted photos with the prime minister and other Union ministers.

The agency found that he also posted an invitation card in his name for the oath-taking ceremony of the prime minister on May 30, 2019, and another invitation card in his name for a lunch with the prime minister on February 20, 2019, and other such forged documents.

The ED also relied on the alleged recovery of over Rs 1.10 crore from premises linked to Kashif and it was argued that this amount formed part of the proceeds of crime.

Kashif argued before the high court that he had already been granted bail in the predicate offence and had remained in custody since May 25, 2023, and there was a delay in the trial.