Nitin Desai suicide: HC to consider Edelweiss executives’ plea for interim relief on August 18

The division bench of justice Nitin W Sambre and justice RN Laddha posted the petitions for further hearing on August 18, when the bench will consider Shah and Bansal’s plea for interim orders restraining police from taking any coercive action against them

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday sought the response of late art director Nitin Desai’s wife Neha to petitions filed by Rashesh Shah, chairman and CEO of the Edelweiss Group and Raj Kumar Bansal, chairman and CEO of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (EARC), for quashing of the FIR registered against them for allegedly abetting Desai’s suicide.

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The division bench of justice Nitin W Sambre and justice RN Laddha posted the petitions for further hearing on August 18, when the bench will consider Shah and Bansal’s plea for interim orders restraining police from taking any coercive action against them.

Neha had earlier informed the police that in the voice clips recorded before his death, her husband had narrated how the Edelweiss executives lured him with big promises in taking a huge loan and later harassed him in the name of recovery of the loan and forced him to end his life.

On Friday, senior advocate Amit Desai, who represented the two senior executives of the Edelweiss group, informed the bench that the petitions have been filed for quashing of the FIR, as the companies have followed the legal procedure for recovery of the outstanding loan. Pressing for interim relief, Desai said that they had fulfilled their obligations under the law and the contract while recovering the loan.

In his petition, Bansal has stated that he had not even spoken with Desai for the past two years and in any case, he is not involved in the day-to-day functioning of EARC. He claimed that the pursuit of legal remedies against Desai’s ND’s Art World by EARC was strictly in accordance with the law and the FIR does not point out any of his actions which could be said to have abetted the suicide.

Public prosecutor Aruna Pai opposed the plea, contending that the FIR was registered barely 10 days ago and the investigation was at a nascent stage. She added that the petitioners should have moved anticipatory bail pleas if they wanted protection from arrest or any coercive action, instead of seeking the interim orders in their petition for quashing of the FIR. She also urged the court to not pass any interim order without sending a notice of the petitions to the complainant Neha Desai.

Two other Edelweiss executives Keyur Mehta, Smit Shah and interim resolution professional Jitendra Kothari have also filed petitions for quashing of the FIR registered against them. The bench posted the petitions for further hearing on August 18, saying it will consider the pleas for interim relief on the next date.

Art director Desai, who has worked on several Bollywood hits like 1942: A Love Story, Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, was found dead in his studio – ND Film Studio, run by his firm ND’s Art World in Karjat on August 2. Two days later, the Khalapur police registered an FIR based on the complaint lodged by Desai’s wife Neha, and booked Rashesh Shah, Bansal, Mehta , Smit Shah and Kothari.