In an interesting matter, a Delhi judge held a hearing at 2:25 AM on Friday (November 14) at her residence to hear an Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea seeking 14 days’ remand of an accused in a money laundering case.
When the case was taken up by Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Shefali Barnala Tandon of the Patiala House Courts, the defence counsel was still on his way.The Court allowed accused Swaraj Singh Yadav to call his father and arrange the lawyer’s number. He then called up the lawyer, who reached the Court at 3:05 AM.
The Court then gave Yadav and his counsel 20 minutes for a private consultation and finally resumed proceedings at 3:30 AM to hear the matter. After hearing the arguments, the Court passed the order at 6:10 in the morning, allowing ED’s application and remanding Yadav to the agency’s custody for 14 days. He will be produced before the Court on November 28 at 2 PM.
Yadav is the Managing Director of Ocean Seven Buildtech Pvt Ltd (OSBPL), a Gurgaon-based real estate firm. He was arrested by the ED on November 13 at around 11:50 PM for allegedly being involved in a nationwide money laundering scam and diverting funds collected from homebuyers under the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.
According to the ED, Yadav fraudulently cancelled flat allotments given under PMAY and resold them at inflated cash-only prices, without refunding the previous buyers. The agency says he siphoned off around ₹220–222 crore, routing money through shell companies and misusing escrow accounts.
Investigators also claim Yadav rapidly liquidated both his personal and company-held assets, possibly anticipating legal trouble.
Pertinently, Delhi courts typically have standard operating hours, but there are instances where judges hold hearings at "odd hours" to address urgent matters, such as in this case involving a money laundering accused.
While these are the official timings, individual judges in Delhi have occasionally held court sessions very late at night or early in the morning to handle critical matters, especially during court vacations or for urgent production of accused individuals
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