A Mumbai court on Thursday denied anticipatory bail to businessman Sudhir Valia, an accused in an alleged Rs 1,000-crore financial fraud linked to Yes Bank, saying prima facie the charges against him are serious and his custodial interrogation is essential.
Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor is also an accused in the case.
"Considering the seriousness of the alleged economic fraud committed by applicant (Valia) with collusion of the officials of Yes bank and its consequences, the custodial interrogation of the applicant is essential," Additional Sessions Judge Anil D Salunkhe said while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea.
The Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered a fresh FIR against Kapoor, Valia, director of Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Ltd (Suraksha ARC), and others for alleged illegal transfer of mortgaged property worth Rs 1,000 crore.
The case was registered at the Worli police station on a complaint filed by Lakhminder Dayal Singh, associated with Saffair Land Development, a sister concern of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).
As per the FIR, another HDIL group company, Privilege Power and Infrastructure, had taken a loan of Rs 300 crore from the Worli branch of Yes Bank in 2015. Due to a financial crisis, Saffair Land Development sought a loan of Rs 150 crore, which was sanctioned by the private bank in 2016.
Properties valued at Rs 1,000 crore of HDIL and its group companies were mortgaged with the bank for securing the loan, which was to be repaid within 36 months. But in June 2018, Singh learnt that Yes Bank had authorised Suraksha ARC to recover Rs 176.53 crore from his company even though the period of repayment was yet to get over, it said.
Singh alleged the mortgaged property valued at Rs 1,000 crore was illegally transferred to Suraksha ARC even though the company had not been declared a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), as noted in a 2019 special audit report. The properties were sold off at below-the-market rate, he claimed.
Further, the complainant alleged Yes Bank provided margin money of Rs 22.5 crore to Suraksha ARC by routing it through multiple accounts as part of a conspiracy to grab the mortgaged properties.
In his pre-arrest bail plea, Valia denied all allegations against him, stating he has been falsely implicated in the case with malicious intent.
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The entire case is an attempt by a suspended director to weaponize the criminal justice system over a concluded, fully documented financial transaction, the plea said, adding Valia is merely one of the six directors at Suraksha ARC, a public limited company.
The FIR fails to attribute any specific meeting, email, instruction, or overt act to him personally, nor does it allege that he received any wrongful personal gain, he said.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ashwini Rayakar, appearing for the EOW, submitted that since the beginning of alleged transaction, Valia and his company acted in collusion with Yes Bank officers.
Replying to defence contention regarding a delay in filing the case, the prosecution clarified that the fraud only came to light after the informant reviewed an audit report of Yes Bank as the accused had acted covertly without giving a notice to the company.
Rayakar submitted that because the bank officials and the applicant are the primary custodians of the relevant paperwork, a thorough investigation is impossible without custodial interrogation of Valia.
The court, after hearing both sides and perusal of the FIR, found that main allegations are against Valia and the Yes Bank officials.
As per the FIR, they, in collusion with each other, created forged record to grab the property of more than Rs 1,000 crore mortgaged by the informant's company in favour of Yes Bank against Rs 150 crore loan obtained from the private lender for a period of three years, the order noted.
The court asserted that the allegations against Valia as well as the officers of Yes Bank are serious on account of alleged fraud running into crores.
"According to me, prima facie record does not show involvement of the applicant in the case as false or to malign his reputation," Additional Sessions Judge Salunkhe noted while rejecting Valia's plea.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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