Sterling Biotech case: Court extends alleged middleman's judicial custody

A Delhi court has extended till November 1 the judicial custody of a man accused of sending Rs 25 lakh cash to a senior Congress leader's residence in connection with the over Rs 5,000 crore-bank loan fraud case involving Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech.

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, who had earlier issued open-ended non-bailable warrants against pharma firm's directors, including Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, extended the custody of Ranjit Malik alias Johny after he was produced before the court.

An "open-ended NBW" does not carry a time limit for execution unlike non-bailable warrants (NBW).

Special public prosecutor Nitesh Rana and advocate A R Aditya, appearing for the ED, told the court that further extension of the custody was required as the probe was at a crucial stage.

Malik was arrested by the agency for allegedly sending Rs 25 lakh through one Rakesh Chandra to the politician's residence in the national capital.

The ED in its charge sheet had told the court that the probe will continue in the matter and supplementary charge sheet is likely to be filed.

The charge sheet against Malik also named Delhi-based businessman Gagan Dhawan, who was arrested earlier in the case and is currently out on bail. Malik was allegedly a middleman for Dhawan.

Besides Sandesra brother, the court had also issued NBW against Chetan's wife Dipti Sandesara, also a director in the firm, and her brother Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel.

The open-ended NBWs were issued after ED told the court that the four accused were likely to have left the country.

In its charge sheet, the ED had told the court that the directors of the firm, along with others, had taken 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 ED registered a money laundering case in this instance after taking cognisance of an FIR filed earlier by the CBI.

The CBI had booked Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, its directors Nitin, Chetan, Dipti, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit 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.