New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a man who was accused of cheating a businessman of Rs 3.9 crore by impersonating the nephew of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi noted that the accused, Ajay Kumar Nayyar, has undergone over four years in custody and the conclusion of the trial will take time.
The court took into consideration that “the offence is of Sections 419 and 420 read with Sections 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, wherein the maximum sentence prescribed is only seven years and the petitioner is in custody for more than four years.”
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the Delhi government, strongly opposed the bail plea. He argued that the prosecution’s application to add forgery charges remains pending and that several other cases involving the accused are also under investigation. The ASG submitted that the case was part of a larger racket where the names of high constitutional authorities were allegedly misused to defraud individuals.
The Bench, however, was unmoved. Justice Maheshwari remarked, “We should go as per law, we will not go here and there”. When the prosecution urged the Court to delay release until the complainant’s cross-examination was completed, the Bench responded firmly: “No, nothing. Had this case come earlier, we would have granted bail earlier also.” The Court accordingly ordered the petitioner’s release on bail, directing that the statutory parameters must prevail over speculative concerns or the pace of trial.
Most recently, on September 1, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Nayyar’s bail plea. The High Court had ruled that the matter was not fit for the grant of bail, given the “serious nature and breadth of allegations” and the pending addition of more severe charges. It had underlined that the maximum punishment for some of the offences invoked was life imprisonment. The High Court also took note of Nayyar’s criminal antecedents, which further persuaded the bench against granting him relief.
According to the prosecution, Nayyar claimed in 2021 that he had close ties with the political establishment by virtue of being Amit Shah’s nephew. He allegedly lured a businessman into believing that he could secure a government contract worth ₹90 crore for supplying leather for the renovation of the President’s Estate at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The inducement was strengthened by the accused showing a demand draft of ₹90 crore. On this assurance, the businessman advanced payments of ₹3.9 crore through cash and RTGS transfers, believing they were processing charges linked to the tender.
The case papers reveal that Nayyar later escalated the promise, claiming that the tender value had risen to ₹127 crore, and sought further sums. The businessman, sensing fraud, approached the police. The Crime Branch arrested Nayyar in December 2021, and he has been in judicial custody since. The charges against him are grave. The police invoked provisions of the Indian Penal Code including Section 420 for cheating, Section 120B for criminal conspiracy, and further sought to add Sections 467 and 471 dealing with forgery and use of forged documents, both of which are punishable with life imprisonment.
The prosecution’s case is that the accused built an elaborate facade of power and access, projecting himself as the Home Minister’s close kin, and used this deception to induce a businessman into parting with large sums of money. The High Court emphasized that the seriousness of allegations and the potential impact on society form part of the considerations under Section 437 and Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
