Jaipur: A special CBI court dealing with cases under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Saturday sent former Behror MLA Baljit Yadav to judicial custody till Feb 10. The court was hearing arguments on the application filed by the defence challenging the legality of his arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED).The court heard detailed arguments from Yadav’s counsel, Kapil Gupta, who contended that the arrest was illegal as the predicate offence—a case registered by Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) over alleged irregularities in the purchase of sports equipment—was stayed by the Rajasthan high court in Dec 2025.
“As the main ACB case relating to alleged irregularities in procurement of sports goods under the MLA Local Area Development (LAD) scheme was under judicial stay, proceedings under the PMLA could not legally continue. ED failed to disclose ‘reasonable grounds’ for the arrest as required under law,” Gupta argued.The case pertains to alleged misuse of nearly Rs 2.7 crore of MLA LAD funds during 2021–22 for procurement of badminton and cricket equipment for 32 govt schools in Behror constituency. ED registered the PMLA case on the basis of the ACB FIR.During the course of arguments, the court questioned ED on what amount it was treating as “proceeds of crime”, observing that the sports equipment was supplied, though the allegation was that it was of substandard quality.The court sought clarity on how proceeds of crime were being quantified in such circumstances.Appearing for ED, Ajatshatru Meena sought time to file a reply on the issue of proceeds of crime, as well as on the defence’s challenge to the legality of the arrest. “Custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the money trail and ascertain the role of the accused in the alleged formation and operation of firms linked to the procurement process. Our interrogation is over and the accused can be taken into judicial custody,” Meena said.The court accepted the ED’s request for time and fixed Feb 9 as the next date of hearing, when it will hear further arguments from both sides before deciding whether Yadav’s arrest was illegal.Yadav was arrested by ED on Feb 4 from Shahjahanpur in Alwar district and was earlier remanded to ED custody till Saturday.
