Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jan 26: The city civil and sessions court on Friday, January 25, has rejected the bail applications of Amrita Chengappa, her mother Meera Chengappa and anticipatory bail application of her brother Vishal Somanna, accused in the Rs 70 crore Manipal Education and Medical Group fraud.

Sandeep Gururaj, deputy general manager (finance) at the group is suspected to have planned the financial fraud.

Amrita, who was an HR manager, had allegedly an affair with Gururaj who was married to Charusmitha PN.

Though all three applied bail stating that they have no involvement in the fraud and will cooperate with the investigation, Public Prosecutor Shailaja K Nayak noted that the police had evidence of the three suspects' involvement in the fraud.

Nayak pointed out that the stolen money was transferred to the accounts of the accused, which included Rs 52 crore transferred to Somanna’s account alone.

She stated that all three are involved in forging group's chairman Ranjan Pai’s signature.

The prosecutor said that there are high chances that Amrita and Meera may leave the country and join Somanna who is out of the country, if released on bail. She also said that suspects can tamper evidence and influence witnesses.

Terming the fraud as ‘heinous’, the 60th Additional Sessions Court judge Vidyadhara Shirahatti rejected the bail applications.