Bank fraud: ED opposes bail of Ratul Puri before Delhi court

The Enforcement Directorate Thursday opposed the bail application of businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in a money laundering case related to a bank loan fraud.

The probe agency told special judge Arvind Kumar that if granted the relief, the accused may tamper with the evidence as the investigation was at an initial stage.

ED's special public prosecutor N K Matta told the court that there was likelihood that the accused could escape if enlarged on bail.

The court will further hear the matter tomorrow.

It had on December 2 granted bail to Puri in the AgustaWestland money laundering case, while directing him not to "tamper with evidence" or "try to contact or influence the witnesses".

In the bank fraud case, the ED had last month filed a charge sheet against Puri and his company Moser Baer.

The ED had arrested Puri on August 20 and is currently in judicial custody in the case.

Puri was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the bank fraud case after he appeared before the central probe agency here in the chopper scam.

The latest PMLA case, filed by the ED, emerged from a CBI FIR of August 17, where Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita (Nath's sister) and others were booked in connection with a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India.

The bank had claimed that the company and its directors forged and fabricated documents to induce the Central Bank of India to release funds.

The Puri family, other individuals like Sanjay Jain and Vineet Sharma were booked by the CBI for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption.

Ratul Puri was booked in this case in his capacity as executive director of Moser Baer India Limited (MBIL), a firm promoted by his father Deepak Puri.

The company manufactured optical storage media like compact discs, DVDs, solid state storage devices.

Ratul Puri is facing criminal investigation by three main central probe agencies, ED, CBI and the Income Tax department.