SRINAGAR: A special Jammu court on Wednesday gave the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) two days to submit its case diary containing details of the probe into the alleged Rs 177-crore loan fraud by arrested businessman Hilal Ahmad Rather, the son of former J&K finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather, before it considers granting bail to him.
Hilal has been in police custody since being arrested by the ACB on January 16. The allegations levelled by the agency against him include diversion of term loans sanctioned by J&K Bank in 2012 for a township project in Jammu to personal properties abroad.
Hilals lawyer filed a fresh bail petition on Wednesday in the court of special anti-corruption judge Yash Pal Bourney, but the latter said he would hear the plea only after the ACB submits the case diary on Friday.
When Hilal had been produced in court on January 17, Bourney observed that the accusations brought by the ACB against him were "well-founded and grave in nature". He then remanded the accused in police custody for a week.
In a "rebuttal" sent to TOI earlier this week, Hilal's lawyer contested the reference to "a scam", saying the case only pertained to "default in repayment of Rs 177cr liability of J&K Bank…which is yet to be established by the investigating agencies and yet to be proved in a court of law".
The lawyer dismissed as "a figment of the creative imagination" allegations published by TOI, and attributed to the ACB, about Hilal acquiring an eight-bedroom villa at Dubai's Palm Jumeriah by diverting loans taken from J&K Bank. He also denied that Hilal had business interests in the power, telecom and other sectors.
“An attempt has been made to project Mr Hilal as a petty criminalRead More – Source
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