Court rejects an accused's discharge plea in Yes Bank fraud case

Mumbai: A special trial court recently rejected a discharge plea made by Satyan Tandon , an accused in the 2020 Yes Bank fraud case , saying it was raised prematurely. Special Judge R B Rote in the designated Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court observed that the case has complex issues, and Tandon's defence against allegations of his active role in criminal conspiracy is required to be considered during the trial on merits.

The allegation is that Yes Bank Ltd, at the behest of its Director Rana Kapoor, advanced loans of over Rs 3,700 crore to DHFL, managed by Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, in exchange for substantial pecuniary benefit, the Sept 11 order said adding, "The offence is a serious economic offence , affecting the socio-economic condition of the society and the financial integrity of the country."

Allegations against Tandon "are totally preposterous and false," argued his counsel Sujay Kantawala, while special public prosecutor A M Chimalkar submitted "there is sufficient evidence on record to proceed further against the applicant and to frame charge".

"According to the prosecution, Tandon is the beneficiary of the criminal offence and he also participated in preparing backdated documents to create a false record... for the SRA project at Colaba," the order said.

"There are complex issues in this case which are required to be decided on merits. There is a specific allegation that there was a criminal conspiracy between the applicant, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, and Sanjay Chhabaria. There may not be any direct evidence available in respect of the criminal conspiracy as the criminal conspiracy is always hatched in secrecy," the order said, adding the conspiracy aspect requires to be decided on evidence and circumstances.

Considering the prosecution case, charge sheets and witness statements, at this premature stage, it can't be said there are no grounds to proceed against him, the court held.