ED opposes bail plea of accused in bank loan fraud case of over Rs 5K cr

A Delhi court Thursday reserved for tomorrow its order on the bail application of a man arrested in a bank loan fraud case of over Rs 5,000 crore involving a Gujarat-based pharma firm.

During the hearing before Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, the Enforcement Directorate opposed the plea moved by Ranjit Malik alias Johny, currently in judicial custody.

ED told the court that if the accused is granted the relief, he may destroy the evidence which is yet to be collected in the case.

ED's special prosecutor Nitesh Rana said that a charge sheet was likely to be filed soon and the accused may destroy various documents available on internet as well as other electronic evidence.

In its reply to the application, filed through advocate A R Aditya, ED said that Malik may flee from justice if granted bail.

In his plea, the accused had told the court that he was not required for further investigation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in the custody.

ED had recently filed a charge sheet against the director of a pharma firm in the case in which the agency has accused the company of taking loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which turned into non-performing asset (NPA) or bad loan.

The agency also arrested a former director of Andhra Bank, Anup Prakash Garg in February and a Delhi-based businessman, Gagan Dhawan, last November in connection with the case. Malik was a middleman for Dhawan.

They were named as accused in the case by the ED and the CBI.

ED registered a money laundering case in this instance after taking cognisance of an FIR filed earlier by the CBI.

CBI had booked Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the alleged bank fraud case.

According to the FIR, the total pending dues of the group of companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016.