A Delhi Court has directed the Enforcement Directorate to file its chargesheet within just a week, against a man arrested in over Rs 50 billion bank loan fraud case against Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech for allegedly sending Rs 2.5 million to the official residence of a senior Congress leader. The court passed the directions in the case after being told by the ED that its report was in the final stage. It had earlier issued open-ended, non-bailable warrants (NBW) against pharma firm's directors, including Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara.
Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora also extended the judicial custody of Ranjit Malik alias Johny, who was arrested by the agency for allegedly sending through a man named Rakesh Chandra Rs 2.5 million to the politician's residence in the national capital. The custody was extended till October 9 on the request of ED's special public prosecutor Nites Rana. The court has also issued a NBW against Chetan's wife Dipti Chetan Sandesara, also a director in the firm, and her brother Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel. They were issued after Rana told the court that the four accused were likely to have left the country.
The ED, in its chargesheet filed through advocate AR Aditya, told the court that the directors of the firm, along with others, had taken loans of over Rs 50 billion from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which turned into non-performing asset (NPA) or bad loan. The agency also arrested a former director of Andhra Bank, Anup Prakash Garg, in February and a Delhi-based businessman, Gagan Dhawan, last November in connection with the case. Malik was reportedly a middleman for Dhawan.
A money laundering case was registered in this instance by the ED 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.
