Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor granted bail

On Friday, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, who was arrested in 2020 in connection with a Rs 466 crore money laundering case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI charged Kapoor and Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar in September.

The ED had accused Kapoor, his family and others of receiving benefits worth hundreds of crores as kickbacks for sanctioning huge loans. It said these kickbacks were received by companies controlled by his family members.

Kapoor received benefits worth Rs 4,300 crore as a kickback for loans of Rs 30,000 crore given by Yes Bank. Advances of Rs 20,000 crore turned into bad loans.

The bail order was passed by Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, but a detailed copy of the order is yet to be released.

Rana Kapoor was not mentioned in the FIR filed last year, but his involvement came to light during the investigation. He was denied bail by the trial court, which observed that the allegations against him were grave and serious in nature.

The ED had opposed his bail, but Kapoor claimed that since he was not arrested by the agency during the investigation and the chargesheet already filed, keeping him in custody was pointless. The trial judge rejected his plea but gave bail to the 15 co-accused, which they said, were only taking instructions from Kapoor and Thapar.

He had sought interim bail because of his health condition and put him at the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection in jail in 2020. He said he was suffering from chronic immunodeficiency syndrome, but his plea was rejected.