Tanvi Sinha
Supreme Court granted bail to Bengali producer Srikant Mohta in his alleged chit fund scam case on 12th January 2021.
This order comes after three consecutive bail rejections by the Odisha High Court on the matter.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, gave bail to the producer after arguments from the accused’s counsel, Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal.
Srikant Mohta had been charged under sections 420, 409 read with section 120 B of the IPC and also under sections 4,5,6 of the Prize chits and Money circulation schemes Act 1978.
This relates to his action of embezzling crores of rupees (1400 crores) on the claim of producing a film when entering into an agreement with Brand Value Communications, a sister company of Rose Valley Group and also the group of companies.
These companies collected a huge amount of money from the public on the basis of false promises that had no authorisation from the RBI and Exchange Board of India.
The appeal for bail filed by Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, was on the basis of the accused deteriorating health where it was shown that he had suffered two brain strokes that he was being treated for at SCB Medical College and then AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
This was backed by SG of India, Mr Tushar Mehta who appeared on behalf of the respondent where he stated that on examination of the appellant’s medical reports he does understand that the two previous Brian strokes had an effect on the appellant’s health.
Hence, the bench agreed to the prayer for the release of Mohta on grounds of medical reasons subject to terms and conditions that could be set to him that would be imposed by the Special CJM, CBI.
