Pune: A special court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of a chartered accountant (CA) and
his wife, facing arrest in the Rs 310-crore Temple Rose land fraud case.
Special judge for Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, J T Utpat, observed on December 16 that a forensic audit report has revealed CA Dharmesh N Joshi as a partner in Temple Rose Real Estate Pvt Ltd. It showed that Joshi signed financial statements, including audit report, while his wife, Sharmila, acted as an agent for attracting investors. She did not possess any professional qualification, but received professional fees as well as a salary of Rs 1 lakh per month from the company, the judge observed.
Judge Utpat held, "The magnitude of the offence is very large and prima facie, there is evidence of the role played by the applicants (Joshi and his wife) in doing so. Under such circumstances, in my opinion, socio economic offences are more serious offences than body offences. Therefore, the role played by each and every person in cheating the depositors to huge amount must be thoroughly investigated and therefore, custodial interrogation of the applicants is certainly necessary."
The defence counsel had argued that Joshi was neither a director nor an office-bearer of the company. In fact, Joshi and his family had invested Rs 3.5 crore with the company. Through Sharmila, the company received investments worth Rs 19 crore and she got a commission of Rs 3.28 crore from the firm. He submitted that the firm chief, Devidas Sajnani (main accused), had executed a couple of sale deeds in favour of Sharmila and others when they had approached him for return of their deposits.
Special public prosecutor Sunil Hande opposed the plea, arguing Joshi was the brain behind all these things and had manipulated records of the company. As such, the couple's custodial interrogation was necessary.
