ADITYA KUMAR BHANDARI Vs. SERIOUS FRAUD INVESTIGATION OFFICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition is filed seeking the indulgence of this Court for enlargement of the petitioner on bail in Reg. No.CC/149/2020.

(2.) The case of petitioner is that RHL was established on 04.08.2004. The eldest brother of Srivastava Family namely, Late Rajesh Srivastava was the 'Founder Chairman and Managing Director' of Rockland Hospitals Limited (hereinafter referred to as "RHL') and was solely managing the day-to-day affairs of RHL till the date of his demise i.e. 25.01.2016 and thereafter the same were handled by his younger brother namely Prabhat Kumar Srivastava till 30.06.2016. The Rockland Group was managed by Late Rajesh Srivastava and his family. The petitioner was a close friend of Srivastavas and was given employment by Late Rajesh Srivastava on this account. After 30.06.2016, RHL was taken over by VPS Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. and on the wishes and directions of Late Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, the Applicant, was designated on paper as a Director of RHL and some other group companies. But since this was primarily an honorary position given to the petitioner, on account of his continued years of service he was never involved in the day-to-day affairs of the said companies and his Share Holding was negligible. The petitioner was never a Guarantor of the Loans obtained by RHL.

(3.) The above said position of facts is squarely admitted by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) inasmuch as the SFIO itself admits that even though the petitioner was a whole time Director of RHL/A1, he was not a signatory to the Financial Statements of RHL/Al (Page no.34 of the I.O. Report). Further, the petitioner has been found NOT GUILTY of the alleged offence under Sections 129, 134 and 448 of Companies Act, 2013 in respect of alleged 'False Statement in the Balance Sheets of RHL' as per finding No.2 at Page No. 8 of complaint. In this regard, as per Section 134(1) Companies Act, 2013 the Balance Sheet of the company is required to be approved by the Board of Directors, meaning thereby that the SFIO admits that despite being a Director in the Board of RHL, the petitioner was not functioning as a decision making member of the Board of Directors and therefore he has admittedly not been held liable for alleged falsification of the balance sheets of the RHL.