Hasan Ali surrenders as SC cancels bail

Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, accused of stashing away huge amount of black money in banks abroad, on Thursday evening surrendered before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Mumbai after the Supreme Court remanded him to the custody of the agency, reports said.

While appearing at the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office, Ali said that he was innocent and that he respected the Supreme Court's orders.The apex court bench of Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar paved the way for the custodial interrogation of Khan after it stayed the March 11, 2011, order of a Mumbai court which rejected the ED's plea for his custody and granted him bail.

"There shall be an interim stay of the order passed by the principal special judge, Mumbai," the apex court said Thursday."We are satisfied that material available prima facie indicates commission of offence by Hasan Ali under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act," the court said.

"The order passed by the principal special judge creates an extraordinary situation whereby it frustrates the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. Having regard to the extraordinary situation, we consider it appropriate that respondent (Hasan Ali) is to be interrogated and accordingly directed to be taken into custody by the authorities of the Enforcement Directorate for four days," the court said.

Before passing its order, the court expressed its bewilderment over the Mumbai court's order rejecting the ED's plea for Khan's remand and making observation on the merit of the case. The apex court initially remanded Khan, 53, in ED's custody for 72 hours but extended it to four days following a plea made by Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam. A Mumbai court had on March 11 rejected the ED's plea for custodial interrogation of Khan on the ground that the agency had not gathered sufficient evidence to justify its plea.