A sessions court has granted bail to boutique car designer Dilip Chhabria in a Rs 22 Crore case of cheating an auto parts dealer, while stating that any attempt to delay the trial would be a grounds to cancel the relief.
It said he must co-operate with the court for the expeditious disposal of the case. It has ordered him to be released on a cash bail of Rs 2 lakh. He has also been directed to attend the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) office, where the complaint is registered, as and when required by the investigating officer.
The court has further prohibited the 66-year-old from leaving the country without its permission or contacting the informant or anyone connected with the case.
Chhabria’s lawyer Sajal Yadav had argued the plea telling the court that two co-accused in the case (Chhabria’s son Bonito Chhabria and daughter-in-law Anushree Chhabria) have already got anticipatory bail in the case. It was also argued that the matter is a civil dispute between the informant and Chhabria and that the EOW should not be dragged into a civil dispute.
Two other family members of the car designer were also booked in the case - wife Cherry Chhabria and sister Kanchan.
Chhabria had approached the court with the application for bail on 7 April after being arrested in early February in the case. An auto spare parts dealer Indermal Ramani had approached the EOW with the complaint that Dilip Chhabria owed him around Rs 18 crore for a consignment of spare parts. Ramani also alleged that Chhabria had taken some amount as a loan for an investment.
Earlier, Chhabria had been booked by the city crime branch for a car financing and dual registration racket. Comedian Kapil Sharma had also filed a complaint soon after against him with the Versova police station that Chhabria had taken Rs 5.3 crore from him in 2017 for designing a vanity van for him, but had failed to deliver it. Later, the car designer had allegedly taken Rs 40 lakh from Sharma, but still did not deliver the van.
