Court allows Naresh Goyal to avail home-cooked food in prison at ‘own risk’

A special PMLA court here has allowed Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, an accused in an alleged fraud of Rs 538 crore at the Canara Bank, to have home-cooked food inside prison.

Goyal’s plea for home-cooked food was allowed by special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) M G Deshpande on Tuesday.

“Naresh Goyal is permitted to avail home-cooked food on a daily basis, as prayed, at his own risk and the risk of his family/relatives, until further order,” the court said.

Goyal is currently in judicial custody and lodged at Arthur Road jail in south Mumbai in a money laundering case linked to an alleged fraud at the Canara Bank.

Earlier, his lawyers had moved an application for home-cooked food along with a chart on Goyal’s health issues that they claimed had cropped up during his judicial custody.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Goyal on September 1 under the PMLA following a long session of questioning at the central agency’s office here.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita, and some former company executives of the now-grounded private airline in connection with an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud at the Canara Bank.

The FIR was registered on the bank’s complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit and loans of Rs 848.86 crore to Jet Airways (India) Limited of which Rs 538.62 crore was outstanding.