Money laundering: Court grants bail to businessman Gagan Dhawan

NEW DELHI: A special court on Thursday granted bail to Delhibased businessman Gagan Dhawan, arrested in a ₹5,000crore money laundering case.

Additional Sessions judge Sidharth Sharma granted the relief to Dhawan on a personal bond of ₹2 lakh and a surety of same amount. Dhawan, arrested on November 1, 2017, was sent to judicial custody on November 15 by the court after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had said he was not needed for further custodial interrogation.

The ED alleged that Dhawan had facilitated the directors of Gujarat-based pharma firm Sterling Biotech Ltd. (SBL) in the purchase of several properties and helped in misuse and diversion of credit facilities of several bank totalling ₹5,000 crore.

“₹1.5 crore was received by the accused from SBL group. Prior to that, the amount of bank loans was rotated in various group companies of SBL group,” the agency said. The lower court had on November 14 issued non-bailable warrants against two other persons — SBL directors Nitin and Chetan Sandesara. The agency told the court that Chetan might have left the country.

In his application, the accused has sought the relief, saying he was not required for further investigation and no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody.

It was a sensational news story back in 1973. While walking the streets of Rome alone at night, the 16-year-old grandson of American billionaire J Paul Getty was abducted by masked men.

His captors demanded a ransom of $17 million for the boy’s safe release. Getty refused to part with a penny, despite his oil billions.

“I have 14 grandchildren and if I pay one penny now, I’ll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren,” he famously said.

Ridley Scott’s retelling of events benefits hugely from a stellar cast. The self-absorbed tycoon is played by a never-better Christopher Plummer, taking over from the disgraced Kevin Spacey