Bengaluru: The high court granted bail to Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki and Robin Khandelwal, accused in the money-laundering case registered by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in relation to the cryptocurrency scam case.Allowing their petitions, Justice S Vishwajith Shetty noted that documents in the present case run up to 8,103 pages and 10 charge-sheet witnesses have been cited. Therefore, the chances of the trial being completed and case being disposed of in the near future are very remote.The petitioners were arrested on May 8 in connection with the case registered in 2021. According to them, the cases related to predicate offences in the same controversy were registered between 2017 and 2020 and they have been granted bail.On the other hand, ED argued that the two petitioners may misuse bail or shift the proceeds of crime worth Rs 401 crore, which they have parked in an undisclosed place.However, Justice Shetty noted that though the case was registered in 2021, the petitioners were arrested only on May 8, 2026. If the petitioners or other accused have parked the sale proceeds safely and if they intended to misuse or shift the same, they could have done it before they were arrested in the present case. There is no allegation against the petitioners that they have misused bail conditions in any one of the cases registered for the predicate offences. Therefore, ED’s apprehension does not appeal to the mind of this court, the judge noted.
