Delhi court extends judicial custody of Lava chief, Chinese national, others till Nov 23 in Vivo PMLA case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of accused individuals, including the managing director of Lava International mobile company by 14 days, in connection with a money laundering case related to Chinese smartphone-maker Vivo.

The four accused are -- Lava International MD Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik.

The financial probe agency, ED's application was opposed by defence advocate Nitesh Rana before the Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala of Patiala House Courts.

Rana argued that the judicial custody cannot be extended "mechanically" and "automatically”, and that there must be application of mind.

"In the absence of it, the accused ought to be released forthwith,” Rana told the court.

Earlier, the Vivo spokesperson had said, "Vivo has consistently denied the allegations. We will pursue necessary and appropriate legal recourse."

The court had earlier noted that the probe agency was able to make out the case for grant of further custody.

"There appears to be continuity in the stand taken by the Enforcement Directorate with regard to extraction of digital data and the accused persons to be confronted with the same. Therefore, considering the settled principles of law and Delhi High Court Rules, I am of the considered opinion that the Enforcement Directorate is able to make out the case for grant of further custody remand,” the judge had said.

The court had further directed that the interrogation be conducted at a place having CCTV coverage and the footage be preserved.

"Accused persons shall be medically examined once in every 48 hours during the above period and the accused persons shall also be permitted to meet their advocates for half an hour daily between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. during the said period of their ED custody in a manner that the ED officials are not able to hear their conversations," the court had said.

In response to the allegation of ED that there has been recovery of several incriminating documents, the counsel for Guangwen had argued, "The nature of such documents has not been specified and why these are relevant to the investigation was not apprised or substantiated by the ED. It was only submitted that they relate to incorporation of companies which is not an offence."

The probe agency had arrested the four persons on October 10. A source had earlier told IANS that the arrests were made after the financial probe agency carried out searches at the premises of the four accused on Monday and recovered cash to the tune of Rs 10 lakh.

The ED action came more than a year after it carried out searches at 48 locations across the country belonging to Vivo Mobiles India Private Ltd and its 23 associated companies such as Grand Prospect International Communication Pvt Ltd (GPICPL), and claimed that it has busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies.

According to the ED, Vivo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd was incorporated on August 1, 2014 as a subsidiary of Multi Accord Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company, and was registered at ROC Delhi.

GPICPL was registered on December 3, 2014 at ROC Shimla, with registered addresses of Solan, Himachal Pradesh, and Gandhinagar, Jammu. The PMLA investigation by ED was initiated by registering a money laundering case on February 3, 2022 on the basis of an FIR registered at the Kalkaji police station in the national Capital by Delhi Police against the GPICPL, its director, shareholders and certifying professionals etc., on the basis of a complaint filed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.