The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to former Amtek Group Chairman Arvind Dham in a money laundering case related to an alleged ₹27,000 crore bank fraud case | Photo credit: PTI
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe quashed a Delhi High Court order denying him bail.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Aradhe, who sat on a bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha, said the court has allowed Dham’s appeal in the case.
The Delhi High Court had denied bail to Dham on August 19 last year, saying premature release could risk undermining efforts for accountability.
Supreme Court order
“With the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence, economic crimes such as money laundering have emerged as a serious threat to the country’s financial system. These crimes pose a significant challenge to investigative agencies, given the complex and convoluted nature of the transactions and the involvement of multiple actors,” the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court added that a meticulous and thorough investigation was essential to ensure that innocent persons were not wrongly implicated and that the actual perpetrators were brought to justice.
“The complexity of the case, the multitude of transactions and the multi-layered corporate structures necessarily entail a lengthy process,” the report said.
The Supreme Court had said that the principle that economic crimes warrant strict treatment in bail cases was not absolute. However, “in cases involving large-scale embezzlement of public funds, the seriousness of the offenses assumes decisive importance.”
“Given the serious consequences for the economy and the banking sector, such crimes undermine public confidence and harm depositors and creditors. Granting bail too broadly in such cases risks sending a counterproductive signal. Granting bail at this time would risk endangering both the trial and public confidence in the justice system. Continued detention is therefore justified,” the report said.
ED examination
Earlier, the ED provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 550 crore of Amtek Group companies, an insolvent automotive equipment manufacturing company, under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Action was taken against Amtek Auto Limited, ARG Limited, ACIL limited, Metalyst Forging Limited, Castex Technologies Limited and Amtek Group promoter Arvind Dham, besides several others, the ED had said.
Properties worth Rs 5,115.31 crore were seized by the agency in September 2024.
The ED probe began on February 27, 2024 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the directions of the Supreme Court.
Dham was arrested by the agency in July 2024 and charged in September 2024.
The investigation found that the companies, along with other group companies, went bankrupt, the resolution of which led to a haircut of more than 80 percent for the banks, causing ‘substantial’ losses for these public sector financial institutions.
The financial statements of group companies were “deceptively manipulated” to obtain additional fraudulent loans and create false assets and investments in the accounts, the agency alleged.
The provisionally attached assets include 145 hectares of land in Rajasthan and Punjab, some properties in Delhi-NCR with a total value of Rs 342 crore, apart from fixed deposits and bank balances worth Rs 112.5 crore.
All Amtek assets are identified as “direct proceeds of crime” and are held through various companies owned by Dham and assets of Amtek companies owned by bankers who approved the loans, the ED said.
Published on January 6, 2026
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