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.
In a big relief to commuters, the Delhi Police have started removing barricades along the Tikri and Ghazipur borders, 11 months after these were installed to stop the farmers from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh entering the national capital.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the corruption, crime and mafia rule in Punjab on Friday. He announced that if his party forms the government in 2022, Punjab will be freed from criminals, the corrupt and inspector raj.
To deal with the ongoing Covid pandemic, India's civil aviation regulator on Friday extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till November 30.
Modi reached Rome on Friday morning where he will join other G20 leaders in discussions on global economic and health recovery from the pandemic, sustainable development, and climate change in the first in-person summit of the G20 since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
Three females farmers from Punjab died on Thursday after a speeding truck rammed into them near the protest site at Tikri border, police said. Two other women farmers were also injured in the accident which took place at around 6 a.m.
Ahead of Diwali, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the firecracker ban order needs to be strictly followed. A bench headed by Justice M.R. Shah emphasized that it is not against any particular festival, but it is also essential to protect the right to life. The bench also comprising Justice A. S. Bopanna said: "We do not want to come in the way of enjoyment, but for enjoyment one cannot play with the fundamental right of others."
