Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) A special CBI court here on Friday stayed proceedings against diamantaire Mehul Choksi till August 8 in the Rs 55 crore Canara Bank-led consortium loan fraud case.
A magistrate court, in April, took cognizance of a chargesheet filed by Central Bureau of Investigation in the case and had issued summons to the accused, including Choksi and two former employees of Gitanjali group Vipul Chitalia and Aniyath Nair.
However, their lawyers Vijay Agarwal, Rahul Agarwal and Jasmin Purani on Friday filed a revision application against the magistrate’s order before the special CBI court claiming it was passed in “a mechanical manner without application of mind”.
The order summoning the accused has been passed with lightning speed on the same day of filing of chargesheet, without even perusing it, they claimed and sought interim relief until their plea is decided.
Special Judge J P Darekar, presiding over the matter, found that the magistrate court’s order does not reflect any opinion formed by it on the basis of the material in the chargesheet.
It held that reasons are necessary not only for litigants but also for superior courts to know the thought process of the trial court.
“The court expects at least some brief outline of the reasons which leads the trial court to form an opinion to issue summons in the case,” the special judge noted.
Therefore, there is prima facie error of giving no reasons in support of the order of issuance of process, the special judge said.
It then stayed the magistrate court’s proceeding till August 8, the next date of hearing.
The court also issued notice to the CBI seeking its say in the plea.
As per the CBI, Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra had sanctioned Rs 30 crore and Rs 25 crore, respectively, as working capital facilities under a consortium agreement to Bezel Jewellery.
The loan was granted for the manufacturing and sale of gold and diamond-studded jewellery, but the company allegedly did not use it for the intended purposes, according to the CBI.
The company did not repay the loan, causing a loss of Rs 55.27 crore to the consortium, as per the agency.
Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi are prime accused in the Rs 13,500-crore PNB ‘scam’. While Choksi is fighting for bail in a court in Belgium, Nirav Modi has been in jail in London since 2019. PTI AVI BNM
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