The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of former Amtek Group chairperson Arvind Dham in a ₹2,700-crore bank fraud case, citing insufficient grounds for granting relief. Justice Ravinder Dudeja dismissed Dham’s regular bail application, keeping him in judicial custody.
This comes after the Supreme Court in April had already declined interim bail to Dham in the same matter.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been pursuing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the directions of the apex court since February 27, 2024. In its latest action, the agency provisionally attached fresh assets worth over ₹550 crore belonging to Amtek Group firms, an automotive equipment manufacturing conglomerate now facing insolvency.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth ₹5,115.31 crore in September last year. The assets include 145 acres of land in Rajasthan and Punjab, properties in Delhi-NCR valued at ₹342 crore, and fixed deposits and bank balances worth ₹112.5 crore.
According to the ED, Dham and several Amtek firms — including Amtek Auto Limited, ARG Limited, ACIL Limited, Metalyst Forging Limited and Castex Technologies Limited — fraudulently diverted bank loans, causing substantial losses to public sector banks.
FIRs were initially registered by the CBI based on complaints from IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The probe revealed that group companies were pushed into insolvency, with their resolution plans leading to a haircut of over 80% for the banks involved.
Investigators further alleged that Amtek’s financial statements were “deceitfully manipulated” to secure additional fraudulent loans and create bogus assets and investments in company records.
Arvind Dham was arrested by the ED in July 2023 and chargesheeted in September the same year. The agency maintains that all attached assets are “direct proceeds of crime” either beneficially owned by Dham or held through Amtek companies linked to fraudulent loan sanctions.
