NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has dismissed the bail plea of an alleged kingpin in an over Rs 8.94 crore bank fraud case, saying the offence was grave and committed in a systematic manner through layered transactions.
Additional Sessions Judge Shunali Gupta rejected the bail application of accused Nitin Birmal Dongre in an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (South) under Sections 318(4) (cheating of valuable security), 319(2)(cheating by personation), 316(4) (criminal breach of trust), 336(3)(forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security), 340(2)(fraudulent use of forged documents), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya
Sanhita (BNS).
“Considering the seriousness and gravity of the offence, the systematic manner in which huge amount of Rs 8.94 crores has been withdrawn from the bank account of the complainant by hatching a criminal conspiracy wherein the applicant was a kingpin and two other persons stated to be involved in the same are yet to be arrested, at this stage, I do not find any ground for grant of bail to the applicant,” the court said in its order dated February 28.
On January 10, 2008, a current account in the name of Larsen & Toubro and Shanghai Urban Construction Operation was opened at Axis Bank’s Lajpat Nagar branch in Delhi.
On June 7, 2024, forged documents were allegedly used to change the phone number linked to the account. Subsequently, in July 2024, a person claiming to be an employee of Larsen & Toubro activated corporate internet banking at Axis Bank’s Usmanabad branch in Maharashtra. A total of Rs 8.94 crore was siphoned in 94 transactions, prosecution alleged, naming Dongre prime beneficiary. Citing gravity of offence and risk of evidence tampering, the court rejected his bail plea despite chargesheet filing and parity arguments.