Money laundering case: Delhi HC dismisses bail plea of Avantha Group's Gautam Thapar

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of Gautam Thapar, Avantha Group promoter in a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 515 crore.

The bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri refused to grant bail to Thapar and dismissed his bail application. Thapar was arrested on August 3, 2021, in connection with the allegations of misappropriation of funds granted by Yes Bank in the form of a loan.

On behalf of Gautam Thapar, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, briefed by a team from Karanjawala & Co. led by Sandeep Kapur, Senior Partner along with Vir Sandhu, Vivek Suri, Niharika Karanjawala, Mridul Yadav, Abhimanshu Dhyani, Sahil Modi and Kajal Advocates.

Rohatgi, during rebuttal arguments on the last date of hearing, had submitted that the applicant is in jail for the last six months and there has been no arrest made and no charge sheet has been filed in the predicate offence by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He further submitted that there was adequate collateral security rendered by Avantha group and it was admitted position through prosecution complaint filed by ED.

Amit Mahajan, Standing Counsel, representing Directorate of Enforcement and had opposed the bail application.

Earlier, the trial court had allowed the bail applications moved on behalf of employees of the Avantha Group Companies, who have been arraigned as co-accused in an alleged case of wrongful loss to YES Bank, registered by the Directorate of Enforcement.

However, in the same case, the court dismissed the bail application moved on behalf of the co-accused Rana Kapoor, Former MD and CEO of YES Bank which is now presently examined by the Delhi High Court and notice has been also issued in that.

The court had earlier dismissed the bail petition of Businessman Gautam Thapar, Promoter of Avantha Group.

Thapar's bail plea is presently being examined by the Delhi High Court. He was arrested by the ED in August month last year and is currently undergoing judicial custody.

The trial court in October last year, took Cognizance on Enforcement Directorate (ED) Chargesheet (Prosecution Complaint) filed against Avantha group promoter Gautam Thapar involving Yes Bank's Rana Kapoor and several employees in connection with money laundering case.

According to the ED, a European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR) was registered against Gautam Thapar, Avantha Realty Ltd., Oyster Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. and others, alleging criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery for diversion/ misappropriation of public money during the period 2017 to 2019.

Earlier, the ED told the Delhi Court that the investigation revealed that proceeds of crime, were laundered through Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL), Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), Jhabua Power Investment Ltd. (JPIL), Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), Avantha Realty Ltd. (ARL) etc. which are being controlled and beneficially owned directly or indirectly by Gautam Thapar.

( With inputs from ANI )