New Delhi: A special court in Delhi on Monday pulled up the Enforcement Directorate for seeking custody of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar before granting them bail in a money laundering case.

Special judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Misa, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, and Shailesh on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and on the condition that the couple cannot leave the country without its permission. The couple had filed bail applications following the chargesheet filed by the ED in December 2017.

During the hearing on Monday, the ED vociferously opposed the bail plea of the accused, saying the two had indulged in a very serious economic offence. "Persons on such a post are committing such activities which are totally against the nation," the Enforcement Directorate told the court.

"Did you arrest the couple during the investigation of the case," the court asked, to which the ED replied in the negative.

"Then why do you now want the court to take them in custody," the judge asked before granting them bail.

Misa and her husband on Monday appeared before the court while responding to summons issued against them on February 8.

Last year, the agency had questioned Misa and Shailesh in connection with the case and attached a Delhi farmhouse owned by the couple.

The case pertains to alleged money laundering of funds by a firm, Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt Ltd, that is said to be linked to Misha and Shailesh. In July last year, the ED had raided three farmhouses belonging to Misa and her husband in Delhi, including the one at 26 Palam Farms, in connection with the money laundering case. The action had come a day after the CBI raided properties across four cities in a corruption case against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi.

Lalu, a staunch critic of Narendra Modi, had then said the back-to-back raids were part of the "politics of vendetta". The RJD chief is now in jail in Ranchi following his conviction in fodder scam cases.