Bhushan Steel bank 'fraud' case: Delhi court grants bail to accused

A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to an accused in an alleged over Rs 46,000-crore bank loan fraud linked money laundering case against the erstwhile Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL).

Special Judge Rajesh Kumar Goel granted the relief to Archana Ajay Mittal, the sister of the company's former promoter Neeraj Singal, on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh with one surety in the like amount and directed her not to leave the country without prior permission of the court.

The company had obtained loans from various banks and financial institutions, and as on March 31, 2017, had an outstanding liability of Rs 46,646.73 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had alleged.

The judge noted that the accused joined the investigation ''as and when she was called'', particularly on July 24 and August 7 last year, and January 10.

''The joining of the investigation by the accused on the aforesaid dates has not been denied by the ED. There are no allegations against the accused that the accused was either absconding or avoiding her appearance before the investigating agency,'' the judge noted.

The judge also noted that a few other co-accused persons, against whom the allegations are more serious and graver, have not been arrested.

He said that the chance of the accused tampering with evidence, which was documentary to a great extent, was negligible.

The previous conduct of the present accused would show that chances of flight risk are ''very dim'', the judge noted.

''Further, the medical documents placed on record would prima facie be sufficient to arrive at a conclusion that the accused Archana Ajay Mittal is suffering from various ailments and she is not keeping good health... In view of my aforesaid discussions, accused Archana Ajay Mittal is admitted to bail,'' the judge said.

According to the ED, Archana Mittal and her husband, Ajay Mittal, currently in judicial custody, knowingly received proceeds of crime to the extent of Rs 70 crore.

They also mortgaged a property of BSL and routed the funds to the family of Neeraj Singal, it alleged.

Ajay Mittal and Singal are currently in judicial custody.

Singal was arrested by the ED after it raided him in June last year. A charge-sheet under various sections of the PMLA was filed against him and others in August last year. The bail application claimed that Archana Mittal was neither a director nor a promoter member, nor an employee of BSL.

The ED has already filed the complaint (ED's equivalent to a charge-sheet), and she was not named in it, it claimed.

The agency has opposed the application, claiming that Archana Mittal played a "pivotal role" in the commission of the money laundering.

After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process, BSL was taken over by Tata Steel Ltd in 2018.

According to the ED, Singal and his associates formed several shell companies, and the promoters and entities linked to BSL ''rotated funds from one company to another through a chain of multiple entities'' as part of the alleged bank loan fraud.

The money laundering case stems from a charge-sheet filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), an agency under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The ED alleged that funds were circulated to infuse capital, buy property and for other personal purposes not intended by the banks.

The promoters, directors and the officials of BSL prepared ''forged'' documents and made fraudulent representations before the banks to discount letters of credit and ''diverted'' the funds back into their own companies with mala fide intentions, it said.

Investigators suspect that funds were ''misappropriated'' against the fabricated letters of credit created in favour of JSW Steel limited and Hindustan Zinc Limited, it said.

''The misappropriated funds were diverted to other group/associated companies, causing wrongful loss to the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank,'' the ED said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)