Show us money, not assurances: Bombay HC to DSK

Mumbai: The Bombay high court expressed anguish at DSK Developers’ empty promises for the past four months to deposit Rs 50 crore to pay back investors, and said that it had concluded arguments on the anticipatory bail application of DSK’s owners and would be passing orders on February 22.

While accepting a demand draft of Rs 12 crore from applicants Deepak Kulkarni and his wife Hemangi who were present in court, the court said that the amount wasn’t enough and that it was only concerned about the interests of investors and wanted to “see the colour of money”.

On Tuesday, when the application came up for hearing, justice S.S. Jadhav demanded to know why the Kulkarnis had failed to deposit the Rs 50 cr as directed by justice A.S. Gadkari towards the Rs 200 crore amount DSK owed investors. Senior advocate Ashok Mundargi on behalf of DSK said that there were various hindrances that defeated DSK’s efforts towards arranging the said amount. He added that DSK had managed to rope in Buldhana Credit Cooperative Society Limited to lend Rs100 crore in lieu of the 200 crore property owned by DSK in Buldhana. The additional public prosecutor informed the court that the entire amount deposited by investors was Rs 1015 crore and that in the past four months, the amount that had matured and was payable to investors was Rs  232 crore.

After hearing all submissions, justice Jadhav said, “We cannot rely on the assurances as they have fallen flat on their face. We are concerned about the interest of the investors and would like to see the colour of your money. On Tuesday, we have concluded the arguments and will be passing orders at the next hearing.”