A special court of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday sent Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor to judicial custody till April 2.
This comes just days after a special court on March 16 extended the ED custody of Kapoor up to March 20.
Kapoor was produced before the special court at the end of his five-day custody.
However, Rana Kapoor on Friday cited susceptibility to coronavirus due to asthma and low immunity and sought spacious jail accommodation.
Kapoor was being produced before court from the Enforcement Directorate’s custody after the agency arrested him on Mar 9 in the Yes bank scam. On Friday the ED did not seek further custody for investigation and sought judicial custody.
In the absence of the regular court, he was produced before an in-charge court. Rana told court that he suffers from bronchitis and acute depression and has been under daily treatment. His advocate Abad Ponda then presented medical documents before the court and told it that Kapoor suffers from low immunity and was thus susceptible to coronavirus and sought that he be kept in two specific yards in Arthur Road jail.
“He is also a senior citizen and an asthmatic person. He has respiratory problems. There is chance of his catching the virus and it will be a totally different situation then,” Ponda told court, adding that even if he is then kept in a government hospital, there too, the virus has been “spreading like wild fire”.
“It is a precarious situation. We fear that if we go there (Arthur Road jail), it (Coronavirus) is going to catch. So we request he is kept in specific yards which are larger and there is more possibility of him being safe.”
Ponda sought that if not in Arthur Road jail, Kapoor can be lodged in Thane jail with appropriate precautions. Special Public Prosecutor for the Enforcement Directorate Sunil Gonsalves informed court that Arthur Road jail is full and not allowing anyone inside and the only option would be either Thane jail or Taloja. To this Ponda remarked that “Taloja is fully infected with moths and insects.”
The court had directed the concerned authorities to consider the medical papers of the accused and keep him in appropriate jail or barrack.
The court however did not allow Kapoor’s request through his advocate who cited gastric problems his client suffers to allow home-cooked food. The ED has alleged that Kapoor sanctioned loans in exchange for kickbacks to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL). These loans, which were given on the basis of inflated securities turned into Non-Performing Assets.