Supreme Court quashes criminal proceedings against Sandesaras after they deposit ₹5,111 crore

The brothers deposited an additional ₹5,111 crore in compliance with an earlier assurance given to the court to settle the claims of lender banks in a multi-crore bank fraud case.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave final clearance to quash all criminal proceedings against fugitive promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Sandesara, after the brothers deposited an additional ₹5,111 crore in compliance with an earlier assurance given to the court to settle the claims of lender banks in a multi-crore bank fraud case.

Taking note of the fact that the brothers had deposited ₹11 crore more than the amount stipulated, the bench directed that the excess sum be transferred to the Supreme Court Legal Aid Services Committee. (Sanjay Sharma)

A bench comprising justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi noted that the deposits were made between December 3 and December 6 in the registry of the Supreme Court, fully satisfying the condition laid down by the court in its November 19 order. On that date, the bench had agreed in principle to quash all criminal proceedings against the Sandesara brothers, subject to their depositing an additional ₹5,100 crore to meet the demands of banks under their one-time settlement.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Sandesara brothers, submitted on Wednesday that his clients had complied in letter and spirit with the stipulation imposed by the court and that, in view of the deposit, all criminal proceedings deserved to be formally quashed. Additional solicitor general SV Raju appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation in the matter.

Taking note of the fact that the brothers had deposited ₹11 crore more than the amount stipulated, the bench directed that the excess sum be transferred to the Supreme Court Legal Aid Services Committee.

The November 19 order marked a significant turning point in the long-running litigation involving the Sandesaras, with the court recording that it had consistently taken the view that once the accused were willing to honour their one-time settlement and public money was flowing back to banks, the continuation of multiple criminal proceedings would serve “no useful purpose”. While agreeing to quash all cases upon full payment, the bench had made it clear that the order was being passed in the “peculiar facts” of the case and would not operate as a precedent in any other matter.

In its November 19 order, the court accepted a proposal placed before it in a sealed cover by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Under the proposal, the Sandesara brothers agreed to deposit ₹5,100 crore as a full and final settlement of all outstanding dues arising from FIRs registered by the CBI, enforcement case information reports (ECIRs) filed by the Enforcement Directorate, attachments under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, proceedings under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, prosecutions by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, proceedings under the Black Money Act, and income tax complaints.

The court had directed that the amount be deposited in tranches before the Supreme Court registry, to be kept in a short-term interest-bearing fixed deposit and distributed proportionately among lender banks after verification by the registrar. All related criminal and civil proceedings were to stand quashed upon full compliance.

The bench had also recorded the financial background of the case, noting that while the original CBI FIR alleged a fraud of ₹5,383 crore, the total one-time settlement value stood at ₹6,761 crore. Of this, the Sandesaras had already deposited around ₹3,507.63 crore under various heads. Parallel insolvency proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal had resulted in recoveries of about ₹1,192 crore for banks. After adjusting these amounts, the remaining dues were assessed at roughly ₹2,061 crore — far lower than the ₹5,100 crore offered by the brothers to bring all proceedings to a close.

The November order noted that since 2020, its consistent approach had been that if accused persons were willing to repay large sums and public money was being restored to the banking system, an insistence on continuing every criminal proceeding had limited practical value.

The litigation arose from a series of writ petitions filed by the Sandesara brothers seeking quashing of multiple FIRs, ECIRs, prosecution complaints, attachments and proceedings under various statutes, including the PMLA, the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, the Companies Act and the Black Money Act.

In March 2024, the court had noted that $100 million had already been transferred to bank recovery accounts, with further payments promised. On November 18, after reviewing calculations and the sealed-cover proposal, the bench asked the petitioners to seek instructions. The following day, the brothers, through Rohatgi, confirmed their readiness to deposit the entire amount to secure complete closure of all cases.

The court’s pragmatic approach had been articulated as early as February 2022 by a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, which had told the government that endlessly pursuing accused persons across jurisdictions without recovering money made little sense when substantial repayments were on the table.

CBI had registered the case in October 2017 against Sterling Biotech, its promoters Chetan and Nitin Sandesara, Dipti Sandesara, other directors, chartered accountants and a former Andhra Bank official, alleging a massive bank fraud between 2004 and 2012. The Enforcement Directorate subsequently initiated a money laundering probe based on the CBI case, and look-out circulars were issued against the Sandesara brothers in August 2017.