Supreme Court rejects bail plea of ex-Amrapali director on medical grounds

The Court on Wednesday rejected the plea of the ex-director of Amrapali Group

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the plea of the ex-director of Amrapali Group seeking bail on medical grounds in the money laundering case against him saying that it is not a case of a medical emergency as such.

The top court said that the prayer for bail on medical grounds has been pursued unsuccessfully since September 2020.

The apex court in its July 23, 2019, verdict had cracked the whip on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by home buyers and ordered the cancellation of the registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the NCR by nixing the land leases.

Amrapali Group's ex-directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court's order since 2019 and multiple cases have been lodged against them for allegedly diverting homebuyers money.

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar rejected the plea of ex-director Shiv Priya filed against the Allahabad High Court order of August 4 rejecting his bail plea and said We decline to interfere in this special leave petition as it is not a case of a medical emergency as such.

The top court directed the Special Judge, PMLA, Lucknow to decide the pending regular bail application filed by the petitioner expeditiously and not later than one month from the date of receipt of the copy of this order.

It noted the assurance of the counsel for the petitioner that the accused will extend full cooperation for early disposal of the bail application before the Trial Court.

The bench directed the registry to forward the copy of the order to the concerned Trial Court through email forthwith for information and necessary action.

Besides the Enforcement Directorate, Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police and other investigating agencies are probing into the alleged irregularities committed by the top brass of erstwhile promoters of Amrapali Group.

Last year, the EOW of the Delhi police arrested the two ex-directors Anil Kumar Sharma and Shiv Priya in two fresh cases of cheating and criminal breach of trust.

On February 28, 2019, the top court had allowed Delhi police to arrest and interrogate Anil Sharma and two ex-directors of Amrapali Group on a complaint that homebuyers of their various housing projects were cheated and duped of their funds.

The top court, which is seized of several pleas of homebuyers seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of the Amrapali group, had also ordered attachment of personal properties of the ex-directors -- Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar.

On July 23, 2019, the top court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate into alleged money laundering charges against ex-Amrapali top brass.

It had provided relief to over 42,000 home buyers of the Amrapali group by directing the state-run National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to complete the stalled projects of the realtor.

The top court had then accepted the forensic audit reports of two court-appointed auditors--Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Aggarwal--and said their findings indicate prima facie violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and anti-money laundering laws.