NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Haryana-based SRS group chairman Anil Jindal accused of committing fraud to obtain credit facilities to the tune of ₹770 crore.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna granted bail, pointing out that Jindal had been in custody for over six years and the trial in the case probed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) was yet to begin.
Directing his release, the bench, also comprising justice PV Sanjay Kumar said, “Though the offence is grave, the fact that the accused has been in prison for so many years without trial cannot be overlooked.”
Imposing conditions to ensure there was no tampering of evidence, the court directed Jindal to provide a list of his bank accounts and immovable properties to the trial court and prohibited him from opening any new bank account or alienating existing property without permission of the court concerned.
In addition, he was asked to surrender his passport to the trial court and share his contact details with SFIO to keep track of his whereabouts.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh who appeared for Jindal along with advocate Vivek Jain argued that Jindal had been in prison since his arrest in April 2018, and the investigation was still pending.
A special court in Gurugram constituted under the Companies Act, granted bail to Jindal in December 2023 but the Punjab and Haryana high court set it aside on April 30 this year.
The allegation against Jindal is that he obtained loan facilities for the group by furnishing false documents. The companies under the group were allegedly incorporated to adjust the cash sales in the wholesale jewellery and real estate business to show an increased net worth of the group, based on which he obtained credit facilities that were allegedly siphoned off.
SFIO registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy against Jindal and other accused in 2018.
The trial court, which granted him bail last year, had observed that the grounds of arrest were not furnished to Jindal which vitiated his arrest as per the Supreme Court’s order in Pankaj Bansal case in October 2023. This mandate of supplying grounds of arrest was contained in section 212(8) of the Companies Act.
In his petition before the top court, Jindal said that the HC overlooked the fact that section 212(8) of the Companies Act, 2013 was identical to the provision of section 19 of the PMLA, 2002 dealing with the furnishing of grounds of arrest and breach of this provision violated his constitutionally safeguarded right.