A special court dismissed today the anticipatory bail plea of a private bank official, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a fraud case post demonetisation, in a related cheating case.
Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry denied the relief to 32-year-old Vineet Gupta, a branch manager in Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch who was suspended, in the case lodged against him by Delhi Police.
Gupta, who is in judicial custody in the case lodged by the ED, sought anticipatory bail saying he apprehends that police would arrest him if he gets bail in the ED's case which is pending before another court.
He said his bail plea in the money laundering case is pending before another court.
The prosecutor, however, opposed his plea saying he cannot be given a blanket order granting protection from arrest.
Earlier, Gupta had approached the court seeking to surrender in the cheating case to which the police had said it would take his custody at an appropriate stage.
The ED had lodged a criminal complaint against two bankers and others based on a Delhi Police FIR after three persons were intercepted with Rs 3.7 crore cash in old currency notes in November last year in front of the bank's Kashmere Gate branch.
Police booked Gupta for cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Besides Gupta, 33-year-old Shobit Sinha, suspended manager (operations) in the bank, and Kushwaha, suspected to be the mastermind behind floating of shell companies, are lodged under judicial custody in the money laundering case for alleged irregularities related to conversion of old currency and supply of new notes.
Axis Bank had said in a statement, "The bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. In this particular case, the bank has suspended the erring employee and is cooperating with the investigating agencies.
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