The Bombay High Court said that the builder, Amarlal Thakur, was entitled to be released purely on the ground of long incarceration with remote possibility of the trial being completed within a reasonable period of time.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to builder Gopal Amarlal Thakur of the Monarch Universal Group, in connection with a housing fraud case in Navi Mumbai.

The bail has been granted not on merits, but due to long incarceration without trial being initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Thakur was arrested on July 1, 2021, and had undergone incarceration for a period of three years, one month and seven days until Wednesday.

Advocate Rajiv Chavan, appearing for Thakur, submitted that he is facing six predicate offences and has been granted bail in all of them.

Chavan also pointed out that, in the ED's case, even charges have not been framed till date, while the material on record shows that the prosecution intends to examine 67 witnesses, which would take a long time to wrap up.

Chavan further stressed that the maximum imprisonment that can be imposed on Thakur, even if he is found guilty, is seven years, while he has already undergone incarceration for about half the term of imprisonment.

Special Public Prosecutor Sandesh Patil and Advocate Chintan Shah, appearing for the ED, opposed the bail plea on merits, while Advocates Saket Ketkar and Premkumar Pandey pointed to the plight of those persons who had booked flats in Thakur's projects.

The bench of Justice Manish Pitale pointed out that under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act the maximum sentence that can be imposed on a person is seven years.

"These facts clearly demonstrate that Thakur having undergone incarceration for a period of three years, one month and seven days, is entitled to be released purely on the ground of long incarceration with remote possibility of the trial being completed within a reasonable period of time," said Justice Pitale, while granting bail to Thakur.

The ED’s probe revealed that builder Gopal Amarlal Thakur diverted and siphoned off huge amounts of money, collected from investors, to its various sister entities.

Through a complex web of money trail, parked substantial Proceeds of Crime (PoC) with various builders of Navi Mumbai, namely Baba Homes Builders and Developers, Lakhani Builders Private Limited, Monarch Solitaire LLP and others.

The ED investigation revealed that Monarch Group and its directors sold the same flats to multiple buyers. They took loans from the NBFC by mortgaging the already sold flats without the knowledge of the customers.