New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea by former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh seeking temporary bail to visit his ailing mother.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench, headed by Justice M.R. Shah that Singh, the accused in the Religare Finvest money-laundering case, is a flight risk.
Counsel representing Singh submitted before the bench, also comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna that it is a humanitarian plea since his client's uncle passed away and his mother was also not keeping well.
Opposing Singh's plea for temporary bail, Mehta said: "He is accused of liabilities which are Rs 2,400 crore. He is a flight risk." He added that there appears to be something suspicious here and the court should not be swayed by the humanitarian grounds.
The bench agreed with Mehta's submissions that Singh is a flight risk. "In terms of serious allegations, it seems that if the petitioner is released on interim bail, he may be a flight risk," it said.
The bench noted that relief had been granted earlier to Singh on account of death of someone. After hearing arguments, the bench said: "the application for interim bail stands rejected."
In December last year, the Supreme Court had said it expects a fair investigation and investigating agencies should be neutral, as it asked Delhi Police to conclude the probe, by December 15, in a case against Singh.
The Delhi High Court had cancelled Singh's bail, noting that his detention was necessary to unearth the "conspiracy hatched by him" and trace the alleged siphoned off money.
Singh had moved the top court against the Delhi High Court order, which came on Religare Finvest Ltd plea challenging the trial court order passed on March 3, 2021 granting bail to him in the case registered against him by the Delhi Police's EOW for cheating, criminal conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust.
In March 2019, the EOW had registered an FIR after it received a complaint from RFL's Manpreet Suri against Singh, former CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd Sunil Godhwani and former CEO Kavi Arora and others. It was alleged that loans were taken by them while managing the firm, but the money was invested in other companies.
Even as the D-Day approaches, the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case through their lawyers are clutching at all possibilities to apparently delay or stay the execution.
A 20-year-old man, resident of Indiranagar, was shifted to the isolation ward of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), on Saturday morning after the lab test confirmed the virus.
A woman has been booked for allegedly selling her seven-day-old daughter for Rs 10,000 to a neighbour at Kathghar area of Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh.
The petition stated that the Tihar jail authorities were preparing the execution of the four death row convicts in a "hurried manner, such a hasty and secretive execution will be plainly illegal as above mentioned three convicts are yet to avail their legal remedy."
Two deaths have been confirmed in India after a 69-year-old woman died at RML hospital here died on Friday. Earlier, a man from Karnatak died on Thursday.
Hours after he was released from seven-month detention, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters on Friday at his residence at Gupkar Raod in Srinagar that he is thankful to the people who prayed for his freedom, "but my freedom is incomplete until all those detained in Kashmir are released".
