Rs. 200 Cr Extortion Case: Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s Close Aide Pinki Irani

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to Pinky Irani, a close aide of alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, in connection with the Rs. 200 crore extortion case.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said there was nothing on the record regarding the criminal antecedents of Irani.

The court also noted that she is a woman of 52 years who has been in custody since November 30 last year.

“This Court considers that the allegations are required to be tested during the trial to meet the requisite of MCOCA. It is also a matter of trial that whether money received by the petitioner was for gaining undue economic advantage, as the case of defence is that this money was transferred for distributing gift to the celebrities,” the court said.

The prosecution alleged that Sukesh Chandra Shekhar roped in Irani to facilitate him to get in touch with various Bollywood celebrities and that a total of Rs.217 crores were extorted on different occasions. It was also alleged that Irani received Rs.74,60,000 in her bank accounts from various bank accounts at the instance of Sukesh Chandra Shekhar which were the proceeds of crime.

An FIR was registered under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Section 66D of Information Technology Act and Section 3 and 4 of MCOC Act, 1999.

While granting relief to Irani, Justice Sharma said that at the stage of bail, the court has to only see the prima facie case and that the case has to be examined on the basis of broad probabilities.

The court said that even the rigors of Section 21(4) of MCOCA does not completely oust the jurisdiction to grant bail, if the broad probability is in favor of Irani.

“In the present case, there is nothing on the record regarding the criminal antecedents of the petitioner. It is also to be taken into account that the accused is a woman of 52 years of age and has been in custody since 30.11.2022. I consider that taking into account the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, the petitioner is admitted to court bail…,” the court said.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. R.K. Handoo with Mr. Yoginder Handoo, Mr. Aditya Chaudhary, Mr. Ashwin Kataria, Mr. Garvit Solanki, Advs.

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Sanjay Jain, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Nandita Rao, ASC with Mr. Akhand Pratap Singh, SPP, Mr. Yuvraj Sharma, Mr. Nishank Tripathi, Ms. Harshita Sukhija, Mr. Amit Peshwani, Mr. Jasraj Chhabra, Advs. for State.

Title: PINKI IRANI v. GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 1006

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