HC grants bail to firm's director in case relating to siphoning of govt money for solar park

The Delhi High Court has granted interim bail of eight weeks to one of the directors of a private firm in a case related to alleged siphoning of Rs 4 crore allotted by the government for development of a solar park in Maharashtra.

Justice Yogesh Khanna, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, granted the relief after noting that the accused was in custody since October last year and he has refunded Rs 2.17 crore, a part subsidy to the central government.

The court directed accused Rakesh Jain to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount and said that before his release from the prison, he shall give his Aadhaar card number and mobile phone number to the jail superintendent.

It also said that during the interim bail period, the accused shall not leave the country without prior permission of the trial court.

Rakesh Jain, who was in custody since October 11, 2019, sought bail in a case registered by the Economic Offence Wing for the alleged offences of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

According to the prosecution, he was a director of Pragat Akshay Urja Limited in whose account major portions of the subsidy was diverted and the accused was also one of its authorised signatories.

He was also one of the directors / promoters and an authorised signatory of Sai Guru Mega Solar Park Limited.

It was alleged that the man along with other accused started taking loan in favour of Pragat Akshay Urja Limited from February 2017 onwards against the term deposits (of subsidy) as security. They used to take loans to settle their previous loans.

It is alleged that over Rs 4 crore was siphoned off by the accused persons after obtaining subsidy from the government and nothing was done for the project except diverting the funds to their interest.

He, along with other co-accused, allegedly misappropriated the government funds which were to be incurred for production of valuable solar energy power and they deprived a large number of common people of the benefits of the scheme.

The court was informed that the two other accused persons Satish Jain and Prakash Jain have since been protected from arrest by the court.

The man's counsel told the court that he has already deposited Rs 2,17,92,500 on December 26 last year as a refund of the amount obtained as subsidy from the central government and if granted some time, will also deposit the balance amount with the government within eight weeks from the date of his release.

The court took on record the undertaking given by the man and granted him interim bail.