Rejecting the plea by the Satish Vasantrao Kalyankar and Onkar Ashiwinikumar Sovani of VIPL, the court said that “prima facie there appears their involvement in the economic offences of huge amounts, which is public money”.
A sessions court on Tuesday rejected anticipatory bail to two directors of Vedant InnoTech Private Limited (VIPL) in connection with an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to probe the alleged irregularities in the purchase of body bags for deceased Covid-19 patients. The court had rejected pre-arrest bail to former mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday.
Rejecting the plea by the Satish Vasantrao Kalyankar and Onkar Ashiwinikumar Sovani of VIPL, the court said that “prima facie there appears their involvement in the economic offences of huge amounts, which is public money”.
On August 4, based on a complaint filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, the EOW filed an FIR against Pednekar, a former additional municipal commissioner (projects) and a former deputy municipal commissioner (purchase/CPD), private contractor Vedant Innotech Pvt Ltd (VIPL), and other unknown government servants for the alleged fraud to the tune of Rs 49. 63 lakh.
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The applicants argued that they were falsely implicated in the case and should be granted protection from arrest.
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Additional judge SB Joshi noted in the order passed on August 29, “The allegations need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country and also causing serious threat or loss to the financial health of the country. There may be conspiracy in the alleged misuse of public funds.”
The court added, “Whether the applicants are involved in the alleged criminal breach of trust or conspiracy or whether they are authors or not will have to be seen on thorough investigation… Prima facie the allegations show loss to the society which requires to be investigated… without custodial interrogation, it cannot be said that the applicants are not involved or falsely involved in the crime…”
Rejecting the pre-arrest bail plea, the court said, “If applicants are released on anticipatory bail, investigation will not be completed as required and it will cause obstruction in it… this is not a fit case to grant anticipatory bail to the applicants and the same is rejected.”
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First published on: 31-08-2023 at 01:05 IST
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