New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has granted regular bail to Anil Kumar Sharma, the former Chief Managing Director of the Amrapali Group, in a case involving allegations of cheating homebuyers.
Sharma had filed an application under Section 439 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) read with Section 482 CrPC seeking regular bail in case registered at Police Station Economic Offences Wing under different Sections for cheating and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He was arrested on February 28, 2019, along with two other co-accused namely Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar.
The senior counsel for Sharma submitted before court that the maximum sentence for the offence under Section 420 IPC with which the petitioner has been charged is seven years whereas the petitioner is in custody for more than three years and six months.
Justice Vikas Mahajan recognised the seriousness of the allegations but noted that Sharma had already served half of the maximum imprisonment period specified for the offenses he was charged with.
"Undisputedly, the petitioner in the present case has undergone detention for a period in excess of one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for the offence under Section 420 IPC," the court noted.
"The allegation against the petitioner may be serious but they do not warrant the invocation of an exception carved in the first proviso to Section 436A CrPC, to continue the detention of the petitioner for a period longer than one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for Section 420 IPC, when notably it is not a case of the prosecution that the petitioner has in any way been responsible for the delay of trial," the court observed.
The court further observed that there were approximately 50 witnesses cited by the prosecution in the case, indicating that it would be a lengthy trial.
Given these circumstances, the court concluded that there would be no useful purpose in keeping Sharma in judicial custody and granted him bail, subject to furnishing a bond of Rs 1 lakh.
The case revolves around the development of Amrapali Silicon City in Sector 76, Noida.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint from an individual who had purchased 26 flats in a tower of the project, only to discover later that the tower had not been sanctioned by authorities.
—IANS