NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has granted interim bail to a practising advocate accused of running a Rs 100 crore Ponzi scheme, citing the potential impact on his children’s education.Justice Manoj Jain passed the order on April 23 while hearing the bail plea of the accused, who is in judicial custody in a case registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.The accused, a member of the Shahdara Bar Association who earlier practised at Karkardooma Courts, faces multiple FIRs across North India — including in Dehradun, Yamuna Nagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Delhi. He is accused of duping investors of around Rs 100 crore by promising high returns through stock market investments. The case includes charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, and violations under the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019.His counsel, advocate Ujwal Ghai, told the court that the accused had already secured default bail in three cases due to delays in filing charge sheets, and regular bail in another matter from the Punjab and Haryana high court. He remains in custody only in the present EOW case, the counsel said.Seeking interim relief, the defence urged the court to take a humanitarian view, arguing that the accused needed to arrange funds for his children’s school admissions, which could otherwise be affected.
The State opposed the plea, submitting that the children’s mother — also a co-accused and currently out on bail — could handle the admission process, and that the father’s presence was not essential.The court, however, observed that the accused’s presence could be necessary to arrange finances and that denying interim bail could harm the children’s educational prospects.“If interim bail is not granted, it would spoil the chance of admission of his children in school, which may seriously prejudice their educational career,” the court noted.Taking these factors into account, the high court granted interim bail for two weeks from the date of release, subject to a personal bond and one local surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.
