Ex-chairman of Bhushan Steel moves HC for anticipatory bail in fraud case

Bhushan Steel's former chairman Brij Bhushan Singal on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a fraud case in which he and his son Neeraj Singal are accused of siphoning off company funds.

The plea seeking anticipatory bail was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar which allowed it to be listed for hearing on Thursday before an appropriate court.

Brij Bhushan Singal (82), in his petition, has moved the high court after a trial court summoned him and other 286 accused in the fraud case to appear before it.

Brij Bhushan Singal, who has been summoned on October 14, said he apprehends he will be arrested when he appears before the trial court and has sought anticipatory bail claiming that he suffers from various ailments like coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, asthama and parkinsonism with dementia.

The case against the company, its ex-promoters and others was filed on a complaint by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The ministry in 2016 directed the SFIO to investigate the affairs of Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL).

Brij Bhushan Singal claimed that he cooperated with the investigation, appeared appeared thrice before the SFIO when he was summoned.

After the investigation report was submitted to the ministry, it directed initiation of prosecution against all the accused mentioned in the report and thereafter, the SFIO on July 1 filed a complaint in the trial court.

The trial court on August 16 took cognisance of the offences, under the Companies Act and the Indian Penal Code, mentioned in the complaint and issued summons to all the accused.

According to the petition, the SFIO complaint alleged that the ex-promoters manipulated stocks in the books of accounts to show inflated figures on the basis of false valuation reports.

The SFIO also alleged that the ex-promoters opened fake letters of credit and created fake vouchers to siphon off funds from the company, the petition said.

Brij Bhushan Singal sought pre-arrest bail on the grounds that the investigation was complete, he was not arrested during the probe, he cooperated with the SFIO.

In his plea, he said he is innocent, aged and requires constant medical support.