Yes Bank money laundering case: Rana Kapoor, Gautam Thapar granted bail 

Former MD and CEO of Yes Bank, Rana Kapoor, was granted bail on Wednesday by a Mumbai's session court in alleged money laundering case of over Rs 300 crore Amrita Shergil Marg bungalow deal. Co-accused, Gautam Thapar of Avantha Group has also been granted bail.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed chargesheet in the case last month. 

Kapoor and Thapar, however, will not walk out of jail as they are in judicial custody in connection with some other cases.

The present case pertains to allegations in the sale of a property situated on Amrita Shergill Marg in Delhi to a company owned by Rana Kapoor's wife, Bindu Kapoor, for which a separate FIR had been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Mumbai last year. Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a money laundering case against Rana Kapoor, Bindu Kapoor, Gautam Thapar and seven others based on the CBI's FIR.

Earlier today, the Delhi High Court had sought response from ED on the bail plea of the former MD and CEO of Yes Bank in a money laundering case related to the wrongful loss of Rs 466.51 crore to the bank.

Last month, the trial court had denied the relief of bail to Kapoor, noting that the allegations against him were most grave and serious in nature.

The trial court had, however, granted bail to 15 other accused - B Hariharan, Abishek S Pandey, Rajendra Kumar Mangal, Raghubir Kumar Sharma, Anil Bhargava, Tapsi Mahajan, Surendra Kumar Khandelwal, Sonu Chadha, Harsh Gupta, Ramesh Sharma, Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Amit Mamtani, Ashish Agarwal, Amit Kumar, and Vinod Bahety - in the case.

Kapoor had moved the bail application before the trial court after he was summoned by the court which took cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The application was opposed by the ED on the grounds that Kapoor was instrumental in the generation of the proceeds of crime .

The judge observed that the 15 accused were only hands so as to say and as per the averments mentioned in the complaint appeared to have been doing certain acts/omissions, while seemingly taking instructions from either accused Gautam Thapar or accused Rana Kapoor, as their agents/ employees .

The court had, in October last year, taken cognizance of the ED's prosecution complaint, an equivalent of a charge sheet, against the accused persons in the case, saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against them.

According to the ED, the case was registered against Gautam Thapar, Avantha Realty Ltd (ARL), Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL), and others alleging criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery for diversion or misappropriation of public money during the period 2017 to 2019.

Earlier, the ED had told the Delhi Court that the investigation revealed that approximately Rs 500 crore proceeds of crime, were laundered through OBPL, Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), Jhabua Power Investment Ltd. (JPIL), Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), ARL, etc. which were being controlled and beneficially owned directly or indirectly by Thapar.

(With inputs from Divyesh Singh and agencies)