Date:09/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/09/stories/2004040905311100.htm

National

Court directs Hindujas to deposit Rs. 5 cr. each

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. The Supreme Court today directed the three Hinduja brothers, accused in the Rs. 64-crore Bofors pay-off case, to deposit Rs. 5 crores each in cash in the Court Registry within six weeks as surety for the bail already granted to them.

A Bench, comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Justice G. P. Mathur, thereby allowed a plea by the three to reduce the amount of surety as furnishing a bank guarantee was costing them Rs. 45 lakhs a month. The guarantees furnished by them expired on March 31.

In their applications, the Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — said that they had obeyed all court orders and that they had enormous financial and social interest in India. Requesting the court to waive the bank guarantee condition, they said that "it would be in the interest of justice and in cognisance with settled legal position and equity and it will cause no harm either to the prosecution or to the proceedings.''