NEW DELHI: On June 20, after protests from lawyers representing several bar associations, ED was forced to withdraw summons issued to senior advocate Pratap Venugopal in connection with a money laundering probe against Religare 's former chairperson Rashmi Saluja .
Four months later, the agency has named Venugopal as one of the accused, along with Saluja, in its chargesheet filed in the Religare Enterprises case before a special court in Mumbai for his role in the alleged conspiracy in illegal allotment of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) of CHIL ( Care Health Insurance Ltd ), a subsidiary of Religare, in which Venugopal was an independent director and Saluja was non-executive chairperson.
When contacted by TOI, Venugopal said he has "no comments to offer".
Saluja, according to the chargesheet, has been described as the "principal architect of the conspiracy", who, in connivance with other former executives of the company Nitin Aggarwal, Nishant Singhal, Pratap Venugopal and Vaibhav Gawli, illegally acquired equity interest in CHIL through ESOPs. ED has termed the ESOPs thus acquired as "proceeds of crime" and has claimed that this was done to gain control of the company by subverting regulatory mechanisms.
About the role of Venugopal, ED says he was then a retainer in Religare and had sought legal opinion on how to overturn rejection of allotment of ESOPs by regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). ED says, in return for his services, the lawyer was offered an independent director's post in CHIL and a remuneration of Rs 60 lakh.
IRDAI had later directed CHIL to revoke or cancel any ESOPs allotted and also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on CHIL for non-compliance with regulatory directions.
The agency said 2.2 crore ESOPs were allotted to Saluja at an undervalued price of Rs 45.3 when the shares were at Rs 110 each. Later, the accused made office assistant Vaibhav Gawli to file an FIR against Burmans of Dabur, who had acquired 51% stake in the company, to prevent them from taking control of Religare.
The summons to Venugopal and another senior advocate had generated sharp reactions from various bar associations, including joint pleas filed by SC Bar Association and SC Advocates-on-Record, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vijay Hansaria before the CJI-led bench of B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran while it was hearing a suo motu case regarding the summons.
The bench had said it would frame guidelines for agencies and bar them from summoning advocates for legal opinion or advice rendered to clients facing prosecution.
Four months later, the agency has named Venugopal as one of the accused, along with Saluja, in its chargesheet filed in the Religare Enterprises case before a special court in Mumbai for his role in the alleged conspiracy in illegal allotment of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) of CHIL ( Care Health Insurance Ltd ), a subsidiary of Religare, in which Venugopal was an independent director and Saluja was non-executive chairperson.
When contacted by TOI, Venugopal said he has "no comments to offer".
Saluja, according to the chargesheet, has been described as the "principal architect of the conspiracy", who, in connivance with other former executives of the company Nitin Aggarwal, Nishant Singhal, Pratap Venugopal and Vaibhav Gawli, illegally acquired equity interest in CHIL through ESOPs. ED has termed the ESOPs thus acquired as "proceeds of crime" and has claimed that this was done to gain control of the company by subverting regulatory mechanisms.
About the role of Venugopal, ED says he was then a retainer in Religare and had sought legal opinion on how to overturn rejection of allotment of ESOPs by regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). ED says, in return for his services, the lawyer was offered an independent director's post in CHIL and a remuneration of Rs 60 lakh.
IRDAI had later directed CHIL to revoke or cancel any ESOPs allotted and also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on CHIL for non-compliance with regulatory directions.
The agency said 2.2 crore ESOPs were allotted to Saluja at an undervalued price of Rs 45.3 when the shares were at Rs 110 each. Later, the accused made office assistant Vaibhav Gawli to file an FIR against Burmans of Dabur, who had acquired 51% stake in the company, to prevent them from taking control of Religare.
The summons to Venugopal and another senior advocate had generated sharp reactions from various bar associations, including joint pleas filed by SC Bar Association and SC Advocates-on-Record, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vijay Hansaria before the CJI-led bench of B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran while it was hearing a suo motu case regarding the summons.
The bench had said it would frame guidelines for agencies and bar them from summoning advocates for legal opinion or advice rendered to clients facing prosecution.
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