A special court considered a situation where the wife of the accused in a money-laundering case had suffered a spine and head injury after a fall in the bathroom and had no one, except her dependent children to look after her. The court granted temporary bail on humane grounds to a chartered accountant accused in a case of defrauding Yes Bank of Rs 200 crore.
The court said it was to be noted that the temporary bail was prayed for on humane grounds and that the applicant’s son was 16, and the daughter was 11 and there was no one to look after their mother who was admitted in hospital. It said further that the acquaintances who admitted her in hospital had certain limitations and that fact cannot be ignored.
Special Judge M G Deshpande said, “It has to be noted…in other offences…family members of the accused know well the background, conduct of the accused..However, economic offences are the product of wise brains and the accused persons involved therein are highly educated and qualified.” The court said further that basically, their families or children were never aware of what their father or breadwinner was actually doing. “One fine morning, such a person gets arrested and the family members cannot understand anything. Children of such accused who are brought up in moderately good background have to face the far-reaching consequences for the act of their father. All this causes a deep-rooted impact on the family,” it stated, adding that the families of economic offenders were completely unaware about the conduct of their breadwinners.
In the situation, the special court said, the application had to be considered with a humane approach. “The impact on the children and the genuine needs of their father to cope with the same is an ardent need which is reflected from the application and medical papers,” Judge Deshpande said in his order, imposing strict conditions while granting the relief.
Madan Gopal Chaturvedi was a chartered accountant with the Viva Group and is alleged to have closely worked with the firm’s director Mehul Thakur and abetted in laundering loans of Rs 200 crore, borrowed by the promoters of the Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan from the bank. Yes Bank’s founder Rana Kapoor is also an accused in the case. Chaturvedi has been in custody since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January this year.
He had made a plea for temporary bail stating that his wife had suffered a grievous injury to her spine and head on November 17 after a fall in the bathroom and had been advised bed rest for many weeks. He said his children had been alone at home since his wife was hospitalised. His application stated that his family needed moral support. The ED had opposed his plea, stating that he was influential and could influence witnesses. It also pointed to the gravity of the offence being an economic one.
