Drone import bribery case: Delhi court grants bail to senior executive of corporate group

A Delhi court has granted bail to Bharat Mathur, a senior vice president of a major corporate group, who was arrested along with a deputy director general of the DGCA in connection with a Rs 2.5 lakh bribery case allegedly linked to facilitating the import of drones for a private company.

Special Judge Chhavi Kapoor was hearing Mathur’s plea seeking relief. The accused had been earlier remanded to five days of CBI custody and was subsequently sent to judicial custody till May 6. On April 18, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Mathur and Mudavath Devula, Deputy Director General in the Airworthiness Directorate of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) at its New Delhi headquarters.

In an order passed on Monday, the judge said, “It is not denied by CBI that the amount of Rs 2.5 lakh, which was allegedly paid as a bribe by the accused to the co-accused public servant, has already been recovered.” “The IO is reported to have already taken steps to safeguard or freeze the bank accounts of the co-accused public servant, which could have been used to receive/possess the remaining portion of the illegal gratification paid to him to process and approve similar applications while being posted as Deputy Director General (of DGCA),” the judge said.

She noted the agency’s claim that Mathur, despite being a senior executive vice president at Reliance Industries Ltd, engaged in negotiations with the accused public servant for processing and obtaining a favourable order regarding the pending applications of three files of M/s Asteria Aerospace Ltd for approval from DGCA for import of drones.

“During the investigation, the statement of the co-founders of M/s Asteria Aerospace Ltd had been recorded by the IO on April 27, 2026, wherein they had mentioned that the said applications were filed by the compliance teams and this work was being looked after by their associate vice president (regulatory compliance department), namely Ankit Gupta, on behalf of their company,” the judge noted.

She said that, according to the police file, Mathur told the investigating officer (IO) on April 21 that M/s Asteria was acquired by Reliance Industries in 2019-20, and while engaged in informal discussions with the Gupta, he was informed about the pending applications.

She noted that Mathur informed the IO that he handed over a gift to Devula to expedite the delay in administrative approval of the applications, believing it to be a “corporate gift”.

The judge said that, according to the IO, apart from the founders of M/s Asteria, no other official, including Gupta, had been asked to join the investigation.

 “The IO had admitted before the court in response to its query that the office premises of the company M/s Asteria Aerospace Ltd in Delhi had not been searched, nor was any notice sent to this person or any other member of the team, regulatory compliance to join the investigation,” the judge said.

She said the agency had not been able to trace the money trail in order to find out the source of the money, which was used to pay illegal gratification to the public servant.

“It is without a doubt that any such illegal bribe amount was paid for the purpose of causing benefit to the company to expedite the grant of permission for import of drones by it, but the accused was not an employee of the company M/s Asteria Aerospace Ltd and has disclosed to the IO during investigation that he was working on the instructions/behest of other officials of the company namely Ankit Gupta,” the judge said.

She underlined that Mathur was a senior citizen, without any prior criminal antecedents.

“He (Mathur) has already been interrogated at length during police custody. CBI has not claimed in their reply that he was a beneficiary of the transaction, as there is nothing on record to suggest that the accused was on the payroll of the company M/s Asteria Aerospace,” the judge said.

She said the CBI did not claim that further arrests had to be made in this case or that other suspects were absconding.

“The accused has revealed the identity and details of other officials of Reliance and M/s Asteria Aerospace on whose behest he was acting and allegedly negotiating with the co-accused.”

“However, no other arrests have been made in this case, nor has CBI claimed that other persons have been arrayed as accused in this FIR for conspiring to commit offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” the judge said.

She said, considering the nature of evidence appearing against Mathur, his past antecedents, and the fact that he has already spent more than 15 days in custody, the accused’s further custody would serve no fruitful purpose.

“Accused is reported to be a resident of Delhi since last 20 years and appears to have deep roots in the society. He has undertaken to cooperate in the remaining investigation and make himself available for interrogation by the IO in the near future, if required.”

“Therefore, since no other recovery is to be made and digital evidence is seized and preserved to eliminate chances of tampering, the court hereby grants bail to the accused Bharat Mathur on his furnishing a personal bail bond and one surety of Rs 1 lakh,” the judge said.

The court also imposed other bail conditions, including that the accused not leave Delhi, provide his address and mobile number, not tamper with evidence, and join the probe when required.