A private bank officer, arrested in a case of alleged irregularities related to the conversion of old currency and supply of new notes, has been denied bail by a Delhi court which said he might tamper with evidence and hamper the investigation if granted the relief.
The court also noted that the investigation in the case is not yet complete and the proceeds of crime are to be recovered by the Enforcement Directorate while rejecting the bail plea of Vineet Gupta.
"... There is also a possibility that accused if released on bail could indulge in acts of concealment and transfer of the properties which might form the part of proceeds of crime liable for attachment. There is also a possibility of tampering the evidence or hampering the investigation.
"In view of the facts and circumstances of the case and the stage of investigation, no ground for bail at this stage is made out," Additional Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt said.
32-year-old Gupta, suspended branch manager in Axis Bank's Kashmere Gate branch here, sought bail claiming false implication and said there was no likelihood of him repeating the alleged offence and his custody was not required.
The bail plea was opposed by Special Public Prosecutor Vikas Garg, who appeared for ED, saying Gupta misused his position as branch head in the bank and charged a commission of two per cent from other accused persons to convert their black money into untainted money.
Meanwhile, the court issued production warrants of Gupta and two other arrested accused -- 33-year-old Shobit Sinha, suspended manager (operations) in the bank, and Rajeev Kumar Kushwaha, suspected to be the mastermind behind floating of shell companies, for January 27.
The warrants were issued on the plea of ED's prosecutor who said the three accused, who are at present in judicial custody, could not be produced before the court from jail due to security arrangements for Republic Day function.
The judge also issued notice to ED for tomorrow on the bail plea of Kushwaha whose counsel claimed that the accused has given retraction statement to the jail superintendent which has not been sent to the court.
To this, the court directed the jail superintendent to file Kushwaha's retraction statement, if any.
Gupta and Sinha were arrested by ED on December 4, 2016 and later on suspended by the bank. Subsequently, Kushwaha was also apprehended.
ED had earlier told the court that the two bank officials,
in connivance with others, had indulged in illegally changing demonetised currency into new notes.
It had claimed that the probe has revealed that Rs 39 crore in cash was in question and several companies were involved in the case. It had said a gold brick worth Rs 39 lakh had been recovered from Sinha while another is yet to be found.
It had claimed that Kushwaha "used the identity documents of various persons to form shell companies" through which cash deposits of Rs 39 crore were made between November 10 and November 22 in "close connivance" with the two bank managers.
ED had said the two bank officials were taking commission against the total amount of money deposited.
They agreed to accept the commission in the form of gold bar which was worth Rs 39 lakh, it had said.
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.
