Edelweiss CEO, Chairman seek protection from Bombay High Court in Nitin Desai suicide case
After the police summoned them in the suicide FIR, the two top officials of Edelweiss approached the High Court, stating that there could not have been an abetment to suicide when they were merely following the legal process for loan recovery.
Raj Kumar Bansal, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) Ltd., along with its Chairperson Rashesh Shah, have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking to quash an FIR registered against them for abetment to suicide of art director Nitin Desai.
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Naina Desai, the wife of Nitin Desai and the complainant in the FIR, has also been made a respondent in the two petitions filed by Bansal and Shah. The petitions aim to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court and, as an interim relief, seek no coercive action by the police. The petitions also seek a stay of the investigation.
On August 2, Desai was found dead at his ND Studio in Khalapur Raigad near Karjat. He allegedly died by suicide, purportedly due to financial stress. The four-time National Award-winning art director had been facing a lack of work since the pandemic and was allegedly finding it difficult to repay the loan of Rs 181 crores he had taken.
Desai's family claims that the loans were taken from Edelweiss (ARC) between 2016 and 2018, and part of the repayment had been made.
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After the initial death case was registered and caused an uproar, the Raigad police converted the Accidental Death Report into an FIR, and an investigation followed. The complaint alleged that the accused had pressured Desai to recover an outstanding loan and attempted to take over his ND Film World Studio in Karjat due to the loan default. The FIR was filed against Bansal, Shah, and interim resolution professional (IRP) Jitender Kothari. Kothari was appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai as the IRP after initiating a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Desai's company, ND's Art World Pvt Ltd.
The police have recorded about 10 statements from witnesses so far and have issued summons to Bansal and Shah to appear before them.
However, the two immediately approached the High Court, stating that there could not have been an abetment to suicide when they were merely following the legal process for loan recovery.
The petitions are likely to be heard this week.
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