-The Times of India
Releasing Dipak S Mehta of Vishal Exports Overseas Ltd on bail similar to the apex court’s earlier decision to grant bail to corporate bigwigs in the 2G case, a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar said: "When the under-trial prisoners are detained in jail custody to an indefinite period, Article 21 of the Constitution is violated."
The company, engaged in export of agricultural commodities and recognized in 2005-06 as a Four Star Trading House with a turnover of about Rs 3,935 crore, was accused of not settling loans to the tune of Rs 500 crore it had availed from 23 banks for packing credit, foreign bill discount and letter of credit facilities.
The CBI had alleged that the company had claimed to have exported diamonds to its associate companies abroad after availing funds from the bank for other purpose and allegedly furnished the same set of documents for availing different facilities from different banks.
Justice Sathasivam noted that Mehta and others were charged with economic offences of huge magnitude. "At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that though the CBI has completed the investigations and submitted the charge sheet including additional charge sheet, the fact remains that the necessary charges have not been framed, therefore, the presence of the appellant in custody may not be necessary for further investigation," he said.
Looking at his health condition, the bench said he was entitled to bail but asked him to refrain from contacting the witnesses, remain present before trial court on date of hearing and surrender his passport to the trial court. The SC gave liberty to the CBI to move an application for cancellation of the bail if Mehta breached any of these conditions.