Actor Sachiin Joshi granted bail in money laundering case

Special PMLA judge M G Deshpande granted bail to Joshi, son of gutka baron JM Joshi, on executing a personal bond of ₹30 lakh with one or two sureties in the same amount.

Mumbai: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Monday granted bail to actor-producer Sachiin Joshi who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case involving Omkar Realtors.

The actor was arrested by the ED on February 14, 2021. (Bhushan Koyande/ Hindustan Times)

Special PMLA judge M G Deshpande granted bail to Joshi, son of gutka baron JM Joshi, on executing a personal bond of ₹30 lakh with one or two sureties in the same amount.

The actor was arrested by the ED on February 14, 2021. The agency alleged that Surana Developers LLP and Omkar Realtors and Developers Private Limited had taken a loan of ₹410 crore from Yes Bank and gave all assets of Surana Developers LLP as collateral for the loan. It was alleged that the loan availed from Yes Bank was diverted and Joshi helped Omkar Group promoters in the diversion of about ₹87 crore.

Joshi had filed the bail plea through senior counsel Abad Ponda and Subhash Jadhav who had argued that there is an allegation in respect of a loan taken of ₹410 crores from Yes Bank by Surana Developers Wadala LLP, but it was not utilised for the purposes for which it was obtained. The lawyers had argued that no specific allegations were levelled in the FIR against Joshi.

“If terms of the contract between Yes Bank and Surana Developers LLP were not followed, it can be at best a case of breach of contract, which cannot be a subject matter of a criminal case. Also, there was nothing to substantiate that any of the expenses of ₹410 crore made by Surana LLP were made for any unauthorised purposes,” they said.

The lawyers also pointed out that the loan amount of ₹410 crores received from Yes Bank was used by Omkar Realtors for the redevelopment of Wadala/Worli project and the ₹87 crore transferred to Joshi was not out of the loan amount, as such applicant was not a recipient of any proceeds of crime.

They also maintained that the transactions between Joshi and Omkar Group were genuine business transactions, backed by agreements and Joshi had already received some part of the money from the Omkar Group, much before Yes Bank disbursed the loan amount and thus the applicant can have no connection with Yes Bank money.

The lawyers also pointed out that the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police had already inquired into the allegations, but the inquiry was closed as no cognizable offence was made out.