Seva Vikas Bank fraud case: PMLA court grants bail to Mulchandani’s alleged aide

A PMLA court granted bail to Bablu Sonkar, linked to a bank fraud case, citing lack of evidence and his minimal involvement in bribing ED officials.

Mumbai: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Friday granted bail to Bablu Sonkar, an associate of Amar Mulchandani, former chairman of the Seva Vikas Bank, for bribing Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.

Seva Vikas Bank fraud case: PMLA court grants bail to Mulchandani’s alleged aide

In October 2022, Reserve Bank of India cancelled the bank license of Seva Vikas Co-op Bank. An ED probe revealed that the former board of directors violated banking norms by sanctioning loans to ineligible entities in return of 20% kickbacks, leading to losses around ₹429.57 crores. Following this, Mulchandani was arrested by the ED.

Sonkar, a 25-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh who was allegedly helping Mulchandani by carrying out illegal activities and spy on ED officers for him, was arrested by the ED on March 22, 2023, for bribing two ED officials in return for important case papers that could be used to influence the multi-crore bank fraud investigation.

Yogesh Wagule and Vishal Kudekar, two contract employees working at the ED, became friends with Sonkar. According to ED, the two allegedly handed over to Sonkar copies of case-related papers, including witness statements, to weaken the probe. The prosecution submitted that the two officials admitted to receiving ₹13,000 and ₹40,000 respectively from Sonkar.

The defense submitted that Sonkar’s arrest was illegal since he was not supplied with the reasons for his arrest. They also argued that this offence was not linked to the main offence of the bank.

The court observed that the ED’s allegations against Sonkar, of his assistance in the proceeds of the crime, were baseless. Special sessions judge AC Daga said that even if the accused had spied on ED and bribed ED officers, it is a distinct offence for which the ED officer must take appropriate action as per law. Noting that there is nothing on record to show that the bribe amount was a part of the proceeds of crime generated by Mulchandani, the court also observed that there was no proof of Mulchandani paying the money to Sonkar.

“Even if, for the sake of arguments, it is accepted that amount of ₹53,000 was paid by Amar Mulchandani, from the proceeds of crime generated by him, to the accused, then also the proviso given beneath section 45 (conditions to grant bail) of the PMLA Act, 2002, gets attracted,” the judge added. Considering that the accused has been in custody since March last year and coupling that with the fact that the amount involved in meagre, the court granted Sonkar bail. It held that nothing is on record to show that the accused will tamper with evidence or is at flight risk.