MUMBAI: Observing that there are no chances of the immediate commencement of the trial and no time frame can be decided for its conclusion, considering the voluminous records and witnesses to be examined, a special court on Tuesday granted bail to developer Sanjay Chhabria of the Radius Group.
He was arrested over two years ago in a money laundering case related to the Yes Bank-DHFL loan fraud. The court held that a speedy trial is a fundamental right.
“Nothing on record shows that the accused at any point in time tried to tamper with the prosecution witnesses and documents, tried to flee from the country, or tried to obstruct the proceedings. The applicant has deep roots in society and is a resident of Mumbai. Considering the right of the applicant/accused as given in Article 21 of the Constitution of India, if the trial cannot proceed further, then the accused is entitled to be released on bail,” Special Judge AC Daga said.
Seeking bail, Senior Counsel Vikram Chaudhari, along with advocates Vibhav Krishna and Sajal Yadav, submitted that there was no real possibility of ensuring adherence to the fundamental right of the accused to a speedy trial.
“The investigation is still pending. There are 31 witnesses in this matter and more than 200 witnesses in the predicate offence (the offence on which the money laundering case is based). The total number of accused in both offences is 71, and the charge sheet of both matters runs into more than 68,130 pages. As in the predicate offence, the framing of charge is stayed; therefore, there is no chance of starting and concluding the trial in the near future,” the advocates submitted.
