Rajasthan High Court stays arrest warrant in SBI loan scam case

Rajasthan High Court stays arrest warrant in SBI loan scam case

Respite for Alok Dhir, managing partner of Dhir & Dhir Associates

The Rajasthan High Court has stayed an arrest warrant issued against Dhir & Dhir Associates' managing partner Alok Dhir in the State Bank of India (SBI) loan scam case.

Single-judge Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur of Jodhpur bench stayed the order passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Jaisalmer last year.

The court also issued notice to the State of Rajasthan over the manner in which it had straightaway issued an arrest warrant against Dhir without summoning him earlier. "The matter requires consideration," the court maintained.

The case arose from a first information report (FIR) registered in 2015 in connection with the Jaisalmer Hotel Project, which was financed by the SBI in 2007.

The police had conducted an investigation and a closure report was initially filed in the case.

Thereafter, the complainant had filed a protest petition, which was allowed by the CJM of Jaisalmer on the ground that cognizable offences against the petitioners were made out under Sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Appearing on behalf of Dhir, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted before the High Court that on identical facts, an FIR was registered at Jaipur, wherein the same transaction was questioned.

However, the Supreme Court had quashed that FIR. Even in the present FIR, the police had initially filed a closure report, he pointed out.