Man who impersonated Amit Shah’s nephew to con businessman gets bail

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 JK 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.”  The bench said the charges were framed in 2022 and even after three years, the cross-examination of the first witness is going on, while there are a total of 34 witnesses.  “In our view, the trial shall take time to conclude,” the bench said.

Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing for the Delhi Government, opposed the bail plea. On September 1, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Nayyar’s bail plea, considering the nature of the allegations against him.

“Considering the nature and expanse of the allegations against the applicant, coupled with the pending consideration of amendment in charge to include the offences under Sections 467, 471 and 120B of IPC punishable with life imprisonment, and also keeping in mind the antecedents, at this stage, I do not find it a fit case to grant bail to the accused,” the High Court order said.

Nayyar allegedly promised the complainant a Rs 90 crore tender from the Central Government for the supply of leather to renovate the President’s estate.

According to the prosecution, a family friend introduced Nayyar to the complainant at Jalandhar Gymkhana Club.  Nayyar, posing as Amit Shah’s nephew Ajay Shah, promised the complainant that he would get him the tender for the Government contract. The complainant was subsequently shown a demand draft of Rs 90 crore in favour of his company and asked to pay Rs 2.5 crore as processing fees, the prosecution alleged. After several rounds of meetings with Nayyar, the complainant paid him Rs 3.90 crore through cash and RTGS on different occasions towards the tender.

But Nayyar showed him a photo of another demand draft of Rs 127 crore, stating that the cost of the tender has been increased from Rs 90 crore to Rs 127 crore, the prosecution said.  When the complainant sensed that he is being cheated, he filed a police complaint, following which the accused was arrested in December 2021.

Nayyar sought bail on the ground that charges were framed in 2022 and the trial would take a long time to conclude.