Yes Bank's Rana Kapoor gets bail in last pending case, to walk out of jail after 4 years

Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor was granted bail by a special court in Mumbai on April 19 in the Rs 466.51 crore bank fraud case. This is the last pending case against Kapoor, which means he will walk out of jail after four years. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kapoor in March 2020 in a money laundering case over charges that he had received kickback through a Rs 600-crore loan given by Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) to a company owned by his family.

Later, he was booked in eight cases related to fraud at the bank that were filed by the CBI. Kapoor has been in jail since March 2020 in connection with the DHFL money laundering case.

The last case, under which Kapoor was granted bail on Friday, relates to allegations that Kapoor obtained illegal gratification in the form of a prime property in New Delhi, belonging to Avantha Realty, at a value much less than the market price.

The CBI alleged that Yes Bank extended concessions, relaxations, and waivers to a real estate group. In a case linked to Avantha Realty, Kapoor was granted bail in 2022 by a special court. The court noted the agency's lack of action in initiating trials for long-pending cases.

Kapoor was granted bail by the court upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and meeting other stipulations. His lawyer, Rahul Agarwal, mentioned that the bail formalities are in progress, and Kapoor might be released from Taloja central prison by Friday or Saturday, where he has been held since 2020.

On Friday, Agarwal said they were trying to complete the bail formalities to facilitate his release as early as possible.

In October 2023, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) ordered the defreezing of bank accounts as well as share and mutual fund holdings of Kapoor.

In July last year, the markets regulator sent a notice to Kapoor asking him to pay Rs 2.22 crore in a case of misselling the private sector lender's Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds and warned of arrest and attachment of assets as well as bank accounts if he fails to make the payment within 15 days.

The demand notice came after Kapoor failed to pay the fine of Rs 2 crore imposed on him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in September 2022.

Thereafter, in September this year, the regulator attached bank as well as demat accounts along with mutual fund folios of the defaulter.

(With PTI inputs)