Supreme Court Grants Bail To Accused Who Duped Businessman Posing As Nephew Of Amit Shah

Previously, the Delhi High Court denied bail to the Accused for the offences punishable under Sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.

The bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi ordered, “After hearing the Learned Counsels appearing on behalf of the parties, the charges have only been framed for the Sections 419, 420, 120B and 34 of the IPC. The period of custody of the petitioner is more than that of the mentioned sentence prescribed…the charges were framed in the year 2022, and by this time, only its first witness is undergoing cross-examination…the total number of witnesses are 34. Considering the facts and circumstances, it is a fit case where we shall exercise our discretion to release the Petitioner on bail on such terms and conditions as it may deem fit.”

Senior Advocate Sudhanshu S. Choudhari appeared on behalf of the Petitioner, whereas ASG Vikramjeet Banarjee appeared on behalf of the State.

Senior Advocate Choudhari submitted before the Court that the Accused is in custody for four years and there are a total of 34 witnesses pending examination. He also said that the co-accused in the matter has already been released on bail.

On the other hand, ASG Banarjee submitted that they have moved an application to bring in the offence of forgery as there are cheques involved, and he has taken the names of other persons as well.

In the month of June 2020, a family friend of the complainant de facto introduced him to the Accused at Jalandhar Gymkhana Club. The Accused represented himself as Ajay Shah, nephew of the Union Home Minister and assured to get the complainant de facto a tender worth ₹90 crores from the Government of India with respect to the supply of leather for renovation of the President’s Estate. After some time, one co-accused representing himself as the inspecting office from the Union Government visited the complainant de facto and inspected his factory.

The de facto complainant visited Delhi and met the Accused who showed a demand draft of ₹90 crores in the name of M/s Jalandhar Leather (India) Pvt. Ltd., a company run by the complainant de facto in Punjab; the Accused represented that the said demand draft would be released to the complainant de facto in respect of the tender and asked him to pay Rs. 2.50 crores as a processing fee. Thereafter, across several meetings with the Accused, a sum of ₹ 3.90 crores was paid to him by the complainant through cash and RTGS on different occasions towards the said tender. The Accused was arrested on December 10, 2021, and a chargesheet was filed for offences under Sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code.

Cause Title: Ajay Kumar Nayyar v. State of NCT of Delhi [SLP (Crl.) No. 15356 of 2025]