Former Lilavati trustee gets interim bail in ED case

A magistrate's court today granted interim bail to a former trustee of city-based Lilavati Hospital after he was arrested in a foreign exchange violation case by Enforcement Directorate.
Additional metropolitan magistrate Makrand Bodhankar granted interim bail to Kishor Mehta on a surety of Rs 2 lakh and directed him to approach the special court for ED cases on Saturday for regular bail.
"The court has granted Mehta an interim bail as the regular ED court is on holiday," said Mehta's lawyer advocate Aabad Ponda.
The court also directed Mehta to be present before the ED officials everyday till then and cooperate with the probe.

According to the agency, between 1995 and 2002, Mehta's diamond trading firm exported diamonds worth USD 20 million, but no money was ever remitted to his account. ED registered a case against him under the (now repealed) Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) in 2002.
Recently, ED had got a non-bailable warrant against him from the court saying that he was not responding to summons.

Mehta was subsequently arrested on court-issued warrant. After being sent to judicial custody, he sought bail.
Advocate Ponda argued that the allegation that Mehta did not appear before the court even after summons were sent was not correct, as they had been issued against another person called Murad Lakadwalla and not his client.

Ponda also argued that Mehta's lawyer was present before the ED's adjudicating authority even in 2010 but the agency did not inform him about this pending case.
However, ED's lawyer said that he had not responded to several summonses.