The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a money-laundering case accused who allegedly posed as a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers to extort money on the pretext of getting people’s work done.
Setting aside the Allahabad High Court’s February 5 order refusing bail to Md. Kashif who has been in jail for almost three years, a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh after he undertook not to use the names of high constitutional functionaries.
The top court directed him to cooperate in the trial of the case, failing which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will be at liberty to seek cancellation of his bail.
The ED case dated April 19, 2023 is based on a case of forgery and cheating lodged at Gautam Budh Nagar police station, Uttar Pradesh in which Kashif was accused of extorting money from people on the pretext of getting their work done from government departments by impersonating as a close associate of PM Modi and Union ministers.
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 alleged.
By influencing people by impersonating closeness to ministers, he allegedly got work contracts from the Government of Rajasthan and other departments.
Kashif, however, contended 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.
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.
He was arrested on April 19, 2023, under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 469, 471 of the Indian Penal Code, and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000, for morphing the photos of the Prime Minister and other ministers with himself and uploading them on social media.
He had 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, it was alleged.
The ED 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.
