A detailed HC order will be made available in due course. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied bail to Pune-based developer Deepak Sakharam Kulkarni, who was arrested by the Pune Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in 2018 in connection with an alleged multi-crore fraud committed by him and his group of companies, DSK developers.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prakash D Naik, though, granted bail to Kulkarni’s wife Hemanti, who is the co-accused in the case.
At least three FIRs by different depositors were registered against the company and its top executives.
Following a complaint by Jitendra Narayan Mulekar of Kothrud, an FIR was lodged against the couple at the Shivajinagar police station under Indian Penal Code’s (IPC) sections pertaining to cheating and criminal conspiracy, and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act along with the Prize Chit and Money Circulation Banning Act.
Two more FIRs were subsequently registered.
The Kulkarnis were facing the complaints for allegedly duping over 30,000 investors to the tune of nearly Rs 2,000 crore by not returning their fixed deposits or paying the promised interest sum.
The couple, through advocate Aashutosh Srivastava, had sought bail citing their advanced age and health conditions. “The applicant is an old man around 70 years of age and is suffering from various ailments and implants in his body, with his health deteriorating speedily in jail,” the plea said.
The plea added that Hemanti was over 60 years of age, adding the applicants were working on a plan to pay interest on the deposits within a short period of time, and the principal amount in a time-bound manner. The plea stated that the release of the duo on bail would facilitate work on all the incomplete schemes and sale of property to pay all the creditors within a period of one year.
The applicants said that there had been no progress in the case after the chargesheet was filed and, therefore, their custodial interrogation was not required.
The couple also said that they had already repaid a substantial amount to the investors and, hence, should be released on bail.
According to his lawyer, Kulkarni would soon approach the Supreme Court against the HC’s order rejecting his bail plea.
A detailed HC order will be made available in due course.
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