Mumbai: Not entitled to bail in economic offences if not arrested during probe, rules CBI court

A special CBI court while rejecting the bail applications of four persons accused in a bank fraud case of Indian Overseas Bank, Nariman Point in 2012, has argued that they were not arrested during the investigation and hence they are not entitled to bail that is applicable to economic offences.

“The present case is related to an economic offence, wherein loss is caused to the bank, which is public money,” the court pointed out.

The court added that prima facie there is a constitution of an offence under Sec 467 of the IPC (forgery of valuable property), which is punishable up to imprisonment for life.

“So applicants are not entitled for bail on the sole ground that they were not arrested during investigation and cooperated throughout in the investigation,” it stated.

Special Judge SU Wadgaonkar said in the order while denying the relief that considering the gravity and nature of the offence and in the larger interest of society adding that they were involved in the wrongful loss of huge public money which runs in crores, in all Rs. 750 crores, that too, the value is of the year 2012. It noted that if we consider the value of the money at present, it should be around Rs. 2,000 crores.

The accused had also claimed bail on the grounds that completion of a trial is not likely in the near future. The court said those factors do not play a significant role in the present case as it involves a grave economic offence involving crores of rupees and the money belongs to the public at large.