Meanwhile employees and other directors of Alchemist ARC including CEO Alok Dhir have got a stay against any action by the Rajasthan police in the case and will move the High Court to quash the order.
The Jodhpur bench on Tuesday granted stay of order dated and all consequential orders passed by the chief judicial magistrate of Jaisalmer in a hearing of the petition and directors. “The court has also observed that the case is of civil nature and that similar FIR has been quashed by the Supreme Court,” the person cited above said.
Chaudhuri will have to move a separate petition to quash any action against him in the case.
The Indian banking industry was shocked on November 1 after police from Jaisalmer arrested Chaudhuri following a complaint from a defaulter who lost his property during a resolution process. Chaudhuri was SBI chairman between April 7 2011 and September 30 2013.
The case refers to the ‘Garh Rajwada’ hotel project in Jaisalmer, financed by SBI in 2007. Since the project was not completed for three years and a key promoter passed away in April 2010, the account slipped into the non-performing asset (NPA) category in June 2010. Subsequently, the Rs. 25 crore loan was sold to Alchemist Asset Reconstruction Co (ARC) in 2014 of which Chaudhuri became a director on superannuation from the bank.
The promoter Harendra Singh Rathore had launched a protest petition in a Jaisalmer court alleging conflict of interest against Chaudhuri after the intital FIR filed in 2015 was closed after the Rajasthan police said it was a civil matter.
Subsequently, a Jaisalmer court had issued an arrest warrant against Alchemist directors including Chaudhuri and CEO Dhir.
