A Delhi court on Friday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of four people arrested in a money laundering case against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. The custody has been extended for three days. The four people, whose custody has been extended, include a Chinese official Guangwen Kyang aka Andrew Kuang, Managing Director of Lava International Hari Om Rai, a Chartered Accountant Nitin Garg, and Rajan Malik.
Earlier on October 10, they were arrested as part of its ongoing investigation against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Accused were produced in court
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala sent the accused to three-day ED custody after the anti-money laundering agency sought their remand for 10 days for further custodial interrogation. This came after all four accused were produced in the court on Friday on expiry of their initial custody.
During the proceedings, the prosecution sought an extension of their custody so they could be interrogated further. It said they had to be confronted with 13 witnesses and digital data from multiple devices had to be extracted.
What the defence counsel contended?
The defence counsel opposed the agency's plea, claiming the ED was engaging in a "flagrant violation of procedures". The agency had raided the company and individuals linked to it in July last year, claiming to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies. The ED had then alleged that a whopping Rs 62,476 crore was "illegally" transferred by Vivo to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India.
(With PTI inputs)
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