New Delhi, May 15 The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to the wife of the alleged "kingpin" of a Rs 3,700-crore scam, in which investors were duped, and directed that no court shall de-freeze the assets attached by the probe agencies in the case till the trial in the FIRs against the accused are concluded.
The court also accepted the report of its registrar (judicial) and closed the issue against its officials who had come under scrutiny for not issuing a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail plea of the accused.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing the plea of Ayushi Mittal alias Ayushi Agarwal, who had challenged a December last year Rajasthan High Court order that had dismissed her bail plea.
The bench noted that her husband, who is in custody, appeared to be the "kingpin" of the alleged scam and assets worth around Rs 650 crore were already attached by the ED.
Noting that more than 250 cases were registered in connection with the alleged scam, the bench granted her bail in one of the FIRs lodged in Bikaner in 2018.
It said none of the attached assets would be de-freezed by any judicial or quasi-judicial body without the leave of the apex court.
The bench observed that the petitioner was in custody and since there were multiple cases lodged against her in different parts of the country, the trial was likely to take time.
Allowing her plea, the bench asked the petitioner to furnish a bail bond to the satisfaction of the trial court at Bikaner.
"We direct that no court shall de-freeze the assets attached by the ED, STF (Special Task Force) or any other state agency till all the trials are concluded," the bench said.
It said the ED and other agencies would be entitled to attach the left-out movable or immovable assets of the accused, their relatives and their associates who are suspected to be the beneficiaries of the defrauded amount.
The bench said its order would not be used to claim parity for the grant of bail to the petitioner's husband or the other accused in the case.
The petitioner's counsel claimed that they have already refunded Rs 2,600 crore to the investors.
The lawyer representing the Rajasthan government in the court argued that more than 200 FIRs were registered in different states, including in Rajasthan, in connection with the alleged duping of investors.
"That we know. They are not national players but international players," the bench observed.
While hearing the matter on May 4, the apex court lashed out at its registry, terming its conduct "nasty" and saying its officials think they are acting as the "super chief justice of India".
The CJI had referred to an order passed on March 23 on the plea and wondered how the registry officials had construed that the bench had not issued a notice to the ED in the matter.
"The registrar (judicial) is directed to hold a fact-finding enquiry and submit an explanation before the next date of hearing as to how the order dated March 23, 2026, does not amount to issuing a notice to the Directorate of Enforcement," the bench had said.
In its March 23 order, the court had noted that the allegation against the petitioner, her husband and their company was of duping investors.
The court had said it was claimed that a substantial portion of the duped amount was returned to the investors, while a few hundred crores of rupees remained in bank accounts that were frozen by the ED.
The bench had also allowed an oral prayer of the counsel of the Rajasthan government, a party in the case, to make the ED a party to the proceedings.
The purpose was to determine whether all movable and immovable assets of the petitioner and her extended family were properly attached.
The bench had said it would not consider the merits of the bail plea until a "comprehensive description" of the assets was provided.
