By IANS
Chennai : The Madras High Court has stayed bail of DSQ Software director Dinesh Dalmia, keeping him in jail for at least another six months. Dalmia is accused of fraud and cheating in a case involving $151 million worth of stocks.
Dalmia is involved in a case of fraud and cheating in which the National Securities Depository Ltd was made to dematerialise and credit 13 million unallocated and unlisted equity shares of DSQ as “fully paid” shares in the country’s stock exchanges.
The Rs.5.95-billion ($151 million) scam came to light in July 2003 but Dalmia had by then fled to the US. An Interpol alert was issued for him in 2005. Indian authorities in New Delhi arrested him in February 2006.
A lower court in Chennai is trying Dalmia. He was granted bail after 21 months, with the trial court saying that his internment amounted to “pre-trial jail”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the fraud, had petitioned the high court to cancel Dalmia’s bail.
The high court Thursday asked the concerned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) in an Egmore court in the city to complete the trial of Dalmia within the next six months.
The high court bench of justice T. Sudanthiram has asked the ACMM to finish the trial in six months by holding daily hearings and framing of charges at the earliest.
The judge said long internment was “no ground to grant bail”.