A special court, while granting bail last week to the founder and former CEO and MD of Yes Bank Rana Kapoor in the Cox and Kings loan fraud case in which Yes Bank was allegedly defrauded of Rs 3,642 crore, said in its detailed order that, since he is already in judicial custody in three different cases, the question of fleeing away from justice does not arise.
“The present applicant is in judicial custody of this court and is facing PMLA charges in three different ECIR...Therefore, being in judicial custody, the question of fleeing away from justice is ruled out,” he said. Special PMLA judge Abhijeet Nandgaonkar said further that the question of tampering evidence or of threatening witnesses also does not arise. It also noted that his passport is in custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.
The court further said that his co-accused in the case Cox and Kings CFO Anil Khandelwal and its internal auditor Naresh Jain have been arrested and are in judicial custody. It said that it is admitted that Kapoor was never summoned for interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case, nor was he arrested in it. Though he was in the custody of the court in other matters, no interrogation or inquiry was sought by the ED of Kapoor in the case, Judge Nandgaonkar said.
Kapoor had sought bail after the court had taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the ED in the case. He was summoned before the court after it took cognisance. He appeared before it being produced from Taloja jail, where he is lodged through a production warrant issued by the court. The court then took him in judicial custody in the case and he applied for a regular bail.
