Special court grants regular bail to Bahubali Shah, co-owner of daily 'Gujarat Samachar'

Ahmedabad: A special designated court granted regular bail to 73-year-old Bahubali Shah, the co-owner of Gujarat Samachar, a leading vernacular daily. The court held that "nothing on record revealed that the applicant (Shah) got himself involved in commission of the offence as alleged" by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Designated special (prevention of money laundering act) judge Kamal M Sojitra passed the order on September 10 while granting relief to Shah. ED had arrested him on May 15 on charges of money laundering. Hours later he was granted interim bail on medical grounds.

"Nothing reveals on record of the case that the applicant has got himself involved in commission of the offence as alleged and therefore, it can be prima facie believed that there is no likelihood in getting involved in commission of the offence coupled with the fact that the applicant was on interim bail and nothing is brought on record that he has attempted to tamper or hamper with the prosecution witnesses and indulged in similar type of activities..." Sojitra remarked in the order.

Shah had filed the application seeking regular bail through advocate Parth Bhatt and senior advocate Devang Vyas argued on his behalf in the court. It was argued that the case against Shah was based on a case filed by Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) back in 2016 in connection with illegality in the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of NTPC and TCS against the directors of two private firms- Excell Multitech Limited and Zenet Software Limited.

Shah's lawyers argued that he was a witness in the SEBI case and not an accused. The court while granting bail considered the argument that in the SEBI case Shah was not arraigned as an accused and all accused in the SEBI case were exonerated nor were charged with PMLA case. The court also gave him relief in view of the fact that the ED had completed its investigation and filed a prosecution complaint, equivalent to a police charge sheet, against Shah.

Special public prosecutor for ED S V Thakkar argued against the bail application while stating that Shah had allegedly provided money to the tune of Rs 15 crores and Rs 3.3 crores to the private firm Zenet Software Limited which transferred the money to Sugandh Estate and Investments Limited (SEIPL). It was done to corner the shares of TCS and NTPC as part of the alleged scam.

Lok Prakashan Limited, the firm which publishes Gujarat Samachar, and Shreyanshbhai Shah, the brother of Bahubali and editor-in-chief of Gujarat Samachar, allegedly financed Excell Multitech Limited and Zenet Software Limited which in turn gave money to Sugandh Estates and and Investments Private Limited to corner the shares of TCS and NTPC as part of the alleged scam.

The ED has alleged that Lok Prakashan Limited, which publishes Gujarat Samachar, and Shreyansh Shah financed more than Rs27 crore to these two firms. The ledger copy of books of accounts of these firms allegedly revealed that Lok Prakashan Limited received 6,46,922 shares of NTPC and 13,780 shares of TCS. Shah is accused of financing Sugandh Estate for fraudulent financial gains for buying shares reserved for retail investors.

Before ED arrested Shah, his newspaper office premises and residence had been raided by the income tax department. The action coincided with blocking of the newspaper's 'X' account by the government following the Pahalgam terror attack.