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SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J.

1. By way of present application filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 („Cr.P.C.‟) read with Section 45 and 65 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 („PMLA‟), the applicant had initially sought extension of an interim bail which was granted to him by the learned Trial Court. Later, since the applicant had surrendered before the jail authorities subsequent to his extension of interim bail application getting dismissed by the learned Trial Court, an application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. i.e. Crl.M.A. No. 5794/2024 was preferred on behalf of applicant seeking amendment of the prayer in the present bail application and for seeking interim bail for a period of one month in ECIR/HIU- II/14/2022 dated 22.08.2022 registered by the Directorate of Enforcement under Sections 3 and 4 of PMLA in Complaint Case No. 31/2022.

2. Brief facts, necessary for the adjudication of the present interim bail application, are that the applicant was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement on 28.09.2022 and he was remanded to judicial custody vide order dated 10.10.2022. Since then, the applicant has been in judicial custody, except for the period of his interim bail i.e. from 28.02.2023 to 01.05.2023, from 12.06.2023 to 04.09.2023 and from 05.01.2024 to 17.02.2024. On 20.12.2023, the applicant had filed an interim bail application before the learned Trial Court seeking interim bail for a period of four weeks on the ground of medical condition of his wife who was suffering from "acute calculus cholecystitis" in her gall bladder and had been advised to undergo a "laparoscopic cholecystectomy" i.e. gall bladder removal surgery. Vide order dated 05.01.2024, the present applicant was granted interim bail for a period of two weeks. However, since the surgery of the wife could not be performed on 16.01.2024, the interim bail of the applicant was again extended till 22.01.2024 vide order dated 18.01.2024 passed by the learned Trial Court. On 22.01.2024, the gall bladder removal surgery was performed on the wife of the applicant and, thus, the interim bail of the applicant was extended till 09.02.2024 by the learned Trial Court. The applicant had then instituted a fresh regular bail application before the learned Trial Court and on 08.02.2024, he had also moved an application seeking interim bail till the disposal of his regular bail application. The interim bail of the applicant was eventually extended till 13.02.2024 and then till 15.02.2024 by the learned Trial Court. On 16.02.2024, the interim bail application preferred by the applicant was dismissed by the learned Trial Court and he was directed to surrender on 17.02.2024 and, therefore, the present bail application was filed before this Court seeking extension of interim bail for a period of one month, and the prayer was later modified to grant of interim bail for a period of one month.

4. Learned Special Counsel appearing on behalf of Directorate of Enforcement opposes the present interim bail application and argues that out of the total custody period of about 16 months, the applicant has already remained on interim bail for more than 5 months on medical grounds. It is argued that when the learned Trial Court had granted interim bail to the applicant on 05.01.2024 a condition was imposed on the applicant that he shall not seek any extension of interim bail on this ground, however, the applicant had not informed that the learned Trial Court on time about non-performance of the surgery of his wife so as to misuse the liberty and to seek an extension of the interim bail. It is stated that the applicant has remained on interim bail for a period of around 43 days on the grounds of surgery of his wife and simply because his wife has to now undergo some further medication or tests or may require re- hospitalization in future, the applicant cannot be enlarged on interim bail for an indefinite period, since the needs and requirements of his wife can now be well taken care of by his parents or their other relatives. It is further argued that this Court in case of Sameer Mahandru v. Directorate of Enforcement 2023 SCC Online Del 6680 had discussed in detail the law on grant of interim bail on medical grounds in cases such as present one, and had dismissed the bail application of the present applicant on medical grounds. It is argued that the applicant is not suffering from any life threatening disease or medical condition for which he is again required to be enlarged on interim bail, and therefore, the present application ought to be dismissed.