The Bombay High Court on Wednesday cancelled the bail granted to actor and businessman Sachin Joshi in connection with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) fraud case involving the Omkar Group.
A single judge Bench of Justice P.D. Naik allowed the application filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) through advocate Hiten Venegavkar. It said the Prevention Of Money Laundering Act court did not consider the merits of the case while granting bail.
The court granted him two months to surrender and allowed his plea to be treated at a private hospital as he is currently COVID-19 positive.
He was granted bail on April 3, but the order was kept in abeyance after the central agency moved a plea. The PMLA court had said, “In view of grounds put forth by the ED, in the interest of justice, if one week time granted to assail the order of will make it proper. Hence the order of bail is kept in abeyance till April 9.”
Mr. Joshi was arrested on February 14 and as per the ED had helped promoters of the Omkar Group divert ₹87 crore. Apart from the cash flows of Omkar Realtors & Developers Private Limited, it is observed that there are huge inter-company transactions with group companies, including those from which funds have been transferred to Mr. Joshi and his companies, the agency stated.
The ED alleged, “Mr. Joshi is clearly devoid of any truth and thus evasive. Use of brand name and/or goodwill for settlement of non-eligible tenants appears to be very far-fetched in the light of fact that neither accused nor his companies had ever done any SRA-related work or Slum Rehabilitation project.”
