Mumbai, Dec 21 (LAB) A Special CBI Court in Mumbai today rejected the bail application of Yes Bank scam accused Gautam Thapar, in an another case related to the sale of property situated at a prime location in Delhi. It is alleged that Thapar sold a property situated at 40, Amrita Shergill Marg in Delhi to a company owned by Yes Bank Co-Owner Rana Kapoor’s wife. A separate FIR was registered by CBI at Mumbai in the said case.
Special CBI Judge M.R. Purwar , Mumbai rejected the bail application of Gautam Thapar, co-owner of Avantha group, also an accused in the Yes Bank scam.
Gautam Thapar was represented by a team of advocates from Karanjawala & Co. headed by Sandeep Kapur, Senior Partner along with Mr. Vivek Suri and Mr. Abhimanshu Dhyani, Advocates. The team had briefed Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who argued behalf of Thapar.
Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani argued that since Thapar was not arrested during the investigation and the Charge Sheet has already been filed so bail should be granted to him. Jethmalani said that Thapar duly cooperated in the investigation and has joined the investigation as and when called upon by the CBI. Even during investigation he was served with a notice under section 41A of the Cr.P.C. which he duly complied with.
It was further submitted that no cheating has been committed as no loss has been caused to Yes Bank as the complete amount has been repaid, as acknowledged by Yes Bank in their own letter dated May 27, 2021 to CBI. The Yes Bank categorically mentioned that the fraud amount is ‘nil’. It was further argued that Thapar’s case fell under Category “A” of the judgement of the Supreme Court in Satinder Kumar Antil’s case. That the Applicant satisfied the requirements of triple test as the Charge Sheet was filed, therefore, there were no chance for him to tamper the evidence. Statement of witnesses were already recorded and therefore, there was no chance of influencing the witnesses. The applicant was not a flight risk as there is already a LOC and he is willing to deposit his passport & was ready to comply with any conditions imposed by the Court.
During the arguments the Applicant relied upon the judgements of the Supreme Court I.e. Sanjay Chandra vs. CBI, P. Chidambaram vs. CBI, Devender Singh vs. State of UP, Sidharth vs. State of U.P., Satender Kumar Antil vs. CBI, Aman Preet Singh vs. CBI and Dataram Singh vs. State of U.P.
Thapar is currently in judicial custody and is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in August.
Thapar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in August last and is in Judicial custody currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
The ED is probing the link between Avantha group promotor, Thapar and Yes Bank co promotor Rana Kapoor and the sale of property at Amrita Shergil Marg. The property at prime location was sold to the wife of Rana Kapoor at a price much less than the market price after a loan was sanctioned to Thapar at concessional rates by the Yes Bank. A money laundering case has also been filed against Thapar. /LAB/SNG