The Supreme Court on Friday extended the interim bail granted to Anil Kumar Sharma, ex-CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies on medical grounds.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi issued a notice to the prosecuting agency on a fresh plea of Sharma and took note of his post-surgery complications while extending the interim bail granted to him on August 8.
Perused the Interlocutory Application No. Issue notice on the application, returnable on September 23. Pending further consideration, the petitioner need not surrender in terms of the directions issued by this Court in its order dated August 8, 2022, the bench said in its order. Earlier, while granting bail to Sharma, the bench had directed him to surrender in the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate before or at the end of four weeks, and be sent back to jail.
The bench had cautioned him against misuse of the liberty and had asked him to use the time to consult doctors and undergo treatment. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Centre, had said as per the advice of doctors, he did not require admission to hospital but he needed medical care.
Bhati had said she was leaving it to the court to grant him interim bail as certain complications have indeed been reported post his surgery as per the discharge summary of the jail dispensary. On August 4, the top court had sought a status report on the medical condition of Sharma, who is lodged in jail here and was seeking interim bail citing his deteriorating health post-surgical intervention.
Advocate Manoj Singh, representing Sharma, had said the applicant is suffering from infection and his "condition is deteriorating" with each passing day. He had urged the top court to grant him interim bail for six to eight weeks keeping in view his medical condition.
On June 9, the apex court allowed Sharma's surgery to be conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for the repair of a "bilateral inguinal hernia" within a week. The top court, however, had refused to grant him bail for four weeks as sought by his counsel, saying that allegations against Sharma were grave.
Sharma was then lodged in Mandoli prison here. The apex court has been monitoring the cases related to the embattled real estate company after many home buyers approached it alleging malpractices and non-delivery of homes or flats.
The apex court, in its July 23, 2019 verdict, had cracked down on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by the home buyers and ordered the cancellation of registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the national capital region (NCR) by nixing the land leases. The top court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged money laundering by realtors, providing relief to over 42,000 home buyers of the Amrapali Group with the verdict.
Besides ED, the Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also been investigating various cases lodged against the former officials of the real estate group. The top court, which is trying to bring in funds for the stalled projects, had then directed the state-run NBCC to complete the stalled projects of Amrapali Group.
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