Delhi Court seeks response from ED over the plea filed by businessman Gautam Thapar

A Delhi Court on Friday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate over the plea filed by businessman Gautam Thapar in a money laundering case relating to alleged loan fraud. Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal issued notice to the federal probe agency and has asked it to respond to the plea by September 27. 

The matter will now be heard on September 28. In his plea filed through Karanjawala & Co., Thapar claimed that the quid pro quo is already complete and keeping him in custody won't serve any fruitful purpose. 

The legal team of Mr Thapar was headed by Mr. Sandeep Kapur, Senior Partner along with Mr. Vir Sandhu, Mr. Vivek Suri, Mr. Rajat Soni, Ms. Niharika Karanjawala Misra, Mr. Mridul Yadav, Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Mr. GG Kashyap, Mr. Abhimanshu Dhyani, Mr. Sidhant Singh & Mr. Sahil Modi. 

The team had briefed Mr Vijay Aggarwal, who addressed the arguments on behalf of Thapar.

"There are about 2000 direct employees and more than 6000 indirect employees working in the organization of the Applicant and the entire families of the said employees are also dependent upon the working of the organization of the Applicant," the plea filed by Thapar read. 

" ....more than INR 6500 Crores, in last 12 years, has been paid by the Avantha Group, to the Government exchequer, byways taxes, levies, etc," the Avantha Group promoter said in his petition. 

The federal agency registered Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Mr Thapar, M/s. Avantha Realty Ltd., M/s. Oyster Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. and others who are under the charges of alleged criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery. 

The accused persons are booked for diversion/misappropriation of public money during the period 2017 to 2019, thereby causing losses to the tune of Rs. 466.51 Crores to Yes Bank. 

The financial watchdogs raided the offices/residence of the alleged accused persons and have arrested Thapar in the said case.

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