Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor granted bail by Delhi High Court in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court, on Friday, granted bail to Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2020 in connection with a Rs 466 crore money laundering case. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had charged Kapoor and Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar in September. 

The ED had accused Kapoor, his family members and others of receiving benefits worth hundreds of crores as kickbacks for sanctioning huge loans. These kickbacks were received by the companies controlled by his family members, it said. 

Kapoor was accused of receiving benefits worth Rs 4,300 crore as kickbacks for loans of Rs 30,000 crore given by Yes Bank. Of these, advances of Rs 20,000 crore turned into bad loans. 

The bail order was passed by Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, but a detailed copy of the order is yet to be released. 

Rana Kapoor was not mentioned in the FIR filed last year but his involvement came to light during the investigation. He was denied bail by the trial court that observed that the allegations leveled against him was grave and serious in nature. 

The ED had opposed his bail, but Kapoor claimed that since he was not arrested by the agency during the investigation and the chargesheet already filed, keeping him in custody was pointless. The trial judge had rejected his plea but granted bail to the 15 co-accused, which it said, were only taking instructions from Kapoor and Thapar. 

In 2020, he had sought interim bail stating that his health condition put him at the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection in jail. He said he was suffering from chronic immunodeficiency syndrome, but his plea was rejected. 

Also read: CBI files charge sheet against Rana Kapoor, Gautam Thapar in Rs 466.51 crore Yes Bank fraud