Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Ketan Parekh's custody extended till May 3

The judicial remand of leading stockbroker Ketan Parekh, his cousin Kartik Parekh, and manager of Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank J V Pandya, was extended till May 3 by the Central Bureau of Investigation special court in Bombay on Thursday.

While extending the remand, the additional sessions Judge A R Joshi directed the CBI to give a clear written undertaking to the court about the progress in the case from the time of his arrest on March 30.

Consequent to a complaint filed by the Bank of India, CBI raided Parekh's residential and office premises and arrested him for allegedly defrauding BoI to the tune of Rs 1.37 billion.

Defence advocate Shirish Gupte along with advocate Rachita Dhuru while opposing the remand of the accused contended that CBI has so far not communicated a single new finding in the remand application.

"The remand application has remained unchanged since the day the accused was first produced before the court," Gupte said, and asked ''is the remand a mechanical procedure?''

He told the court that his client could not be punished indefinitely just because it was a non-bailable offence. He further submitted that even in non-bailable offences like murder, the accused person could be freed on bail under certain circumstances.

CBI prosecutor Bharat Raghuvanshi on his part urged the court to remand the accused to judicial custody for 14 days. It was submitted that the accused had committed a serious 'economic offence' and investigation in the case was at a crucial stage.

Seeking their remand, Raghuvanshi said the end use of defrauded amount has to be probed.

He opposed their bail saying that the accused might tamper with probe or hamper investigations if released on bail.

He said investigations had revealed that certain shares of Himachal Futuristic Communication Ltd and Marcon Global Ltd (formerly D-Assam Leasing) were purchased on behalf of Panther Fin Cap and Classic Credit Pvt Ltd of Ketan Parekh by brokers.

Ketan's companies owed certain money to these brokers and this was paid from the defrauded amount of Bank of India. Thus Ketan used the defrauded amount to meet his financial commitments, CBI alleged.

Advocate Gupte argued that the question of the accused tampering with evidences does not arise as these are in the form of files and papers, which are in the custody of CBI.

The court was also informed that the accused Ketan Parekh had furnished all the relevant information to the investigating agencies the very next day after the arrest and the probe was almost complete. Therefore judicial custody of the accused person could not be extended.

Gupte also submitted that if Parekh was let off on bail, he would mobilise the outstanding amount to repay the Bank of India.

Objecting to the CBI remand application, Gupte contended that the remand application did not mention anything about Kartik Parekh and J B Pandya.

Vijay Garg, counsel for J B Pandya, said his client was not an influential person as mentioned by CBI and therefore was not likely to tamper with evidence if given bail.

Meanwhile the court has permitted another accused Ramesh Parekh who is on bail, to visit Ahmedabad to take treatment for his cardiac problems. The court had directed him to remain present on May 3.

It may be recalled that Ramesh Parekh, chairman of Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank was granted bail on the condition that he would report to the CBI office thrice a week and not leave the city without the court's prior permission.

His lawyer I J Mansharamani urged that his client's attendance at CBI's office should be dispensed with from Friday as it was the last date on which he was required to be present.

CBI told the court that attendance of the accused at it's office was no longer required.

On April 18, the judge declined to release on bail Ketan, Kartik and Pandya on the ground that investigations were at crucial stage and large sum of money was involved in the alleged scam.

CBI alleged that the accused had connived to obtain 13 pay orders to the tune of Rs 1.37 billion from Madhavpura Bank's Mandvi branch. They were purchased by Bank of India on March 8 and 9 and proceeds deposited in Ketan Parekh group of companies.

However, when they were sent for clearing Reserve Bank of India returned them because Madhavpura Bank failed to meet its liability.

UNI & PTI

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO SEE:
The Capital Markets Crisis
Money
Business News

Tell us what you think of this report