MUMBAI: A special CBI court last week granted bail to former director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) Devang Mody in a ₹ 4,097-crore bank fraud case, after noting that the allegations regarding his role were “generic in nature”, the investigation was complete and the charge-sheet had been filed.
He was among three Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group executives arrested in the case, along with former Reliance Capital vice-chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and former Reliance Capital chief financial officer (CFO) Amit Bapna. However, while considering Mody’s bail plea, the court found no concrete prima facie material showing that he had participated in availing the loans or induced anyone to obtain them. It further noted that the evidence against him was predominantly documentary and had already been seized, reducing the scope for tampering. The court also noted a change in the charges invoked against Mody between the remand stage and the charge-sheet. Though the CBI had invoked a serious breach-of-trust charge while seeking Mody’s custody, the same was not included in the charge-sheet, which accused him of cheating and criminal conspiracy. It also noted the Look Out Circular issued against him, which reduced the possibility of his fleeing the trial.
Special judge Nitin V Jiwane also noted in the order dated August 29 that several persons allegedly involved in approving the loans had not been arrested and that Mody’s further custodial interrogation was not required. Mody, who served as RCFL’s director and CEO from April 2017 till December 2018, was arrested by the CBI on June 22 this year.
The allegations against Mody were similar to those against other approving authorities, none of whom had been arrested, the court said. Considering these circumstances, the judge held that the “discretion in granting the bail needs to be exercised in favour of the applicant”.
The court recorded that Mody had appeared before the CBI several times before his arrest, and there was no allegation that he had failed to cooperate.
