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Informist, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court has agreed to drop criminal proceedings against brothers Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, businessmen and former directors of Sterling Biotech Ltd., subject to them depositing INR 51 billion, one-third of the dues they owed in a bank fraud case, before Dec. 17. The deposited amount shall be disbursed to the respective lender banks on proportionate basis in reference to the amount due towards them, said the apex court.

 

"In consequence of the above, the litigation with respect to the loan amount of the petitioners for which the FIR (first information report) was registered and the OTS (one-time settlement) was sanctioned and approved, shall be put to an end by way of full and final settlement as per consensus and this litigation shall be put to quietus," said the bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi. It is clarified that the directions issued were in peculiar facts of this case, therefore, they shall not be treated as precedent.

 

The apex court noted that the brothers intend to put quietus of the litigation with respect to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, attachments under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Fugitive Act, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, pertaining to black money and income tax, and have agreed to deposit the amount as demanded, honouring the proposal made by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the government. The petitioners have agreed to deposit the given amount by way of full and final payment of the lender banks and to quash and close all proceedings against them, the court noted.

 

"The perusal of the orders passed in the proceedings of this case as noted hereinabove, it is apparent that since inception, this court was of the view that if the petitioners are ready to deposit the amount as settled in OTS and public money comes back to lender banks, the continuation of the criminal proceedings would not serve any useful purpose," said the bench. The tenor of the proceedings apparently indicate peculiarity, with intent to protect the public money and interest and to get deposited the defalcated amount, said the court. "In this view, in the peculiar facts and situation of the present case, discretion as prayed, deserves to be exercised for granting the relief, as prayed and to direct for quashment of all the proceedings," the bench added.

 

The Central Bureau of Investigation had registered a case against Sterling Biotech and its directors for cheating public sector banks. The probe agency said that Sterling Biotech took a loan from a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank, defaulted on it, and it subsequently turned into non-performing assets over a period of time. The CBI alleged that the company diverted the loan amounts to the entities abroad through its group companies by adopting a circuitous route. Thereafter, all other agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Serious Fraud Investigation Office registered cases against the company and directors.

 

In 2017, the brothers had left India and obtained Albanian passports. Thereafter, the Indian authorities designated them as "fugitive economic offenders". A fugitive economic offender is a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued and who has left India to avoid criminal prosecution or one who refuses to return to the country to face criminal prosecution. It is to be noted that Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya and diamond trader Nirav Modi are other individuals to be declared "fugitive economic offenders".  End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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