Nirav Modi Aide Denied Bail In PNB Fraud Case
A Mumbai CBI court rejected Sandeep Mistry’s bail plea in the PNB fraud case, citing flight risk, alleged evidence destruction and the possibility of witness tampering.
A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected the bail plea of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi's associate Sandeep Mistry in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, citing his history of destroying evidence and the possibility of his absconding or tampering with witnesses.
Special judge Subhash Karhale noted that Mistry had been absconding for nearly seven years before being extradited from Dubai and arrested at Mumbai airport.
"Thus, the appearance of the applicant in this case is under compelling circumstances. Under these circumstances, if he is released on bail, it would be difficult to secure his presence during the course of trial," the court said.
Mistry was a director of Fancy Creations Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company linked to Nirav Modi.
The CBI alleged that Mistry managed Modi's dummy companies in Dubai and Hong Kong and supervised their operations through clandestine communication systems, including "panemail" and "crickinfo", designed to automatically delete messages.
The agency also accused Mistry, Nirav Modi's brother Nehal and another wanted accused of threatening employees who served as dummy directors of the companies after the fraud came to light.
The employees were allegedly forced to relocate to Cairo under the threat of arrest.
Seeking bail, Mistry's counsel argued that other accused had been granted relief and that the main chargesheet had been filed in 2019. The defence claimed that Mistry could not return to India earlier because his passport had been revoked.
Rejecting the plea, the court observed that the accused had allegedly played an active role in the conspiracy and had a history of destroying evidence.
"If he is released on bail, he may destroy the evidence. He may tamper with the prosecution witnesses," the court said.
"Financial implications of thousands of crores of rupees and the nature of the above referred offences are also sufficient reasons to refuse the bail," it added.
Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are accused of defrauding PNB through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking issued at its Brady House branch in Mumbai. The CBI and Enforcement Directorate have been investigating the case since 2018.