Chennai, Aug 18 (PTI) The Principal Sessions Court in Chennai has refused bail to three persons, said to be associated with the Surana Group of Companies.

The petitioners -- I Prabakaran, Dinesh Chand Surana and P Anand were arrested for offences punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with three cases pending before the Enforcement Directorate.

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"Considering the stage of investigation, amount involved and the serious nature of the offence said to have been committed by the accused and the fact that the prosecution has to collect more materials, the period of custody and also the chance of tampering of documents etc., this court is of the view that the petitioners may not be released on bail at this stage," PSJ S Alli said and dismissed the bail applications from the accused on Wednesday.

According to Prabakaran, one of the bail applicants, he is the director of Sasyo Exim Pvt. Ltd. and he has been carrying on his business in a genuine manner. His business has been unnecessarily dragged into the affairs of the Surana Group of Companies without any basis. Even as per the case of the prosecution, he did not have any role to play in the management and administration of Surana Group of Companies and as such he has been wrongfully implicated in the present case.

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There is no material to even remotely suggest that he was acting as per the instructions of Surana Group. He had appeared before the SFIO for enquiry into the affairs of Surana Group and extended his full co-­operation. During pendency of the investigation done by SFIO, the Central Bureau of Investigation as well as the ED have started parallel investigation in violation of the provisions of Section 212 of the Companies Act. Pursuant to the summons, he had appeared for enquiry on June 12. Next day he was arrested. It was made in utter violation of the mandatory provisions of the CrPC and without following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. His pretrial arrest would amount to deprivation of his personal liberty, he contended.

The other two, Dinesh Chand Surana, MD of Surana Inddustries Limited and Anand, partner in Bell Tower Enterprises Limited, also made similar contentions.

The PSJ noted that the companies and its directors were alleged to have misappropriated the funds obtained from the banks and siphoned for personal gains causing loss to the tune of around Rs 3,986 crore as on date of the accounts being declared as non performing assets (NPA) by the banks concerned. The companies through its directors/promoters and other officials were alleged to have indulged in manipulation of the books of accounts, indulged in paper transactions with shell companies to inflate the turnover of the companies, to get more credit facilities from the banks and thereafter siphoned off the funds from the companies accounts through those shell companies for personal gains and thus indulged in the offence of money laundering.

In the case on hand, the petitioners/accused were said to have been involved in layering, placement and ultimately concealment of proceeds of crime in the name of fake transactions through fake companies, though there was no actual transaction or actual company. A huge amount has been involved in the transaction, in which all three petitioners/ accused were said to have been directly involved, the judge said and refused bail to them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)