PMLA court refuses bail plea of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor

Mumbai, July 21: A PMLA court here on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged multi-crore fraud at the bank. Kapoor had sought bail on merits of the case.

His lawyers submitted that the investigation in the case was completed, hence there was no reason to keep him in jail. Also, most of the evidence was documentary in nature and cannot be tampered by the accused, they added, as reported by news agency PTI.

However, special judge P P Rajvaidya rejected Kapoor’s plea. The banker, currently in judicial custody, was arrested in March under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is primarily investigating Kapoor, his wife and three daughters over Rs 600 crore received by a firm allegedly controlled by them from an entity linked to the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).

Kapoor, his family members and others got benefits of Rs 4,300 crore through companies controlled by them as kickbacks for sanctioning huge loans, the ED has alleged. He is also accused of receiving bribes for going easy on loans given to a few big corporate groups that had turned into non-performing assets (NPAs).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing a related case.