The ED had last month filed a charge sheet against Ratul Puri and his company Moser Baer.
A Delhi court today granted bail to businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in a money laundering case related to bank loan fraud.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Puri on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of like amount.
Puri is likely to come out of jail since he is already on bail in the AgustaWestland case in which he was arrested earlier.
The court directed the accused not to leave the country without its prior permission and to join the probe as and when called for.
"He shall not try to influence the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence in any manner," the court said.
It noted that the case was primarily based on the documentary evidence.
"Multiple raids have been conducted by different investigating agencies at the residential as well as the official premises of the investigating agency."
"In fact, the entire record of the accused company is in the custody of the official liquidator. Thus, the apprehension of the probe agency that the applicant would tamper with the evidence appears to be far-fetched," the court said.
It noted that Puri had permanent house in Delhi, wherein he was living with his family.
"He is stated to be the chairman of the Board of Directors of Hindustan Power Projects Ltd having the strength of about 21,000 employees."
"This indicates that the applicant has roots in the society and there is hardly any likelihood of his fleeing from justice," it said.
Advocate Vijay Agarwal, appearing for Puri, said that his client had resigned before the alleged period of offence.
"No case was made out against my client," he said.
The Enforcement Directorate's (ED) Special Public Prosecutor NK Matta had opposed the bail application, saying, "if released on bail, Puri may tamper with the evidence and influence the witnesses."
The ED had last month filed a charge sheet against Puri and his company Moser Baer.
It had arrested Puri on August 20 and he is currently in judicial custody in the case, which emerged from a CBI FIR of August 17. Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita (Nath''s sister) and others were booked in connection with the Rs 354 crore bank fraud case file by the Central Bank of India.
Puri was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the bank fraud case after he appeared before the central probe agency in the VVIP chopper scam.
The Delhi High Court, meanwhile, reserved its order on the ED''s plea against the trial court order granting bail to Puri in the chopper scam case.
The court had on December 2 granted bail to Puri in the AgustaWestland money laundering case while directing him not to "tamper with evidence" or "try to contact or influence the witnesses".