New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday junked the bail plea, on medical grounds, of Amrapali Group's erstwhile Director Shiv Priya, who has been in jail for more than two years for cheating thousands of home buyers.
A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and C. T. Ravikumar said: "We decline to interfere in this special leave petition as it is not a case of medical emergency as such. For, the prayer for bail on medical ground has been pursued unsuccessfully since September 2020."
However, the top court, while dismissing the plea, asked the trial court to decide his regular bail plea within a month.
"In the circumstances, while dismissing this special leave petition, we direct the Special Judge, PMLA/Session Judge, Lucknow to decide the regular bail application filed by the petitioner which is still pending, expeditiously, and not later than one month from the date of receipt of the copy of this order," it said.
The petitioner's counsel assured that he will extend full cooperation for early disposal of the bail application before the trial court. The top court noted that this assurance has been placed on record.
"Copy of this order be forwarded to the concerned trial court through email forthwith for information and necessary action. The special leave petition is disposed of in the above terms. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of," the top court noted in its order.
Shiv Priya moved the top court challenging the August 4 order of the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench, dismissing his petition under Section 482 of the CrPC. The high court had confirmed the order dated January 13, passed by Special Judge, PMLA.
"Vide the order dated January 13, 2021, the Special Judge, PMLA/Session Judge, Lucknow has suo moto recalled its own earlier order dated September 22, 2020, whereby the petitioner herein was granted interim bail to avail medical treatment which is not possible while being in the jail custody as per medical report issued by the jail authority, central jail no 11, Mandoli, Delhi," said the plea.
The Supreme Court, in its July 23, 2019 verdict, had cracked the whip on errant builders for duping thousands of home buyers and ordered the cancellation of the registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA. Amrapali Group directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court's order.