A holiday court here on Fridaygranted interim bail to two former top office-bearers of IL&FS as well as IL&FS Financial Services Ltd (IFIN) in view of the coronavirus outbreak.Hari Sankaran, former vice chairman of the crisis-hit IL&FS, and Ramesh Bawa, former managing director and CEO of IFIN, were arrested in April last year by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for alleged fraudulent conduct and causing wrongful loss to the company and its creditors.The duo, currently lodged in Taloja jail, had sought bail citing coronavirus outbreak.Their lawyer Abad Ponda submitted that the accused are old and suffering from various diseases and disorders.Considering their health condition and age, the court should release them for short duration till the COVID-19 pandemic gets over, the lawyer said.The SFIO, on the other hand, contended that there is no need to grant temporary bail because the diseases they were suffering were not life threatening.However, Judge P R Sitre granted bail to them for 75 days considering the coronavirus situation.The duo was arrested after the alleged financial irregularities at IL&FS came to light after some group entities defaulted on debt repayments.Sources said that IFIN had borrowings of around Rs 17,500 crore through debt instruments and bank loans.Provident funds, pension funds, gratuity funds, mutual funds as well as public and private sector banks are among the entities that have invested in these debt instruments.
