Punjab & Haryana High Court Rejects DLF Plea To Cancel Former CFO's Bail In ₹311 Crore Extortion Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed DLF Limited's plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to its former Chief Financial Officer, Ramesh Sanka, who was accused of threatening to leak confidential company data to extort ₹311 crore.

Justice Vikram Aggarwal held that Sanka's institution of petitions before the Supreme Court and different High Courts, alleging tax evasion and other violations by DLF, could not by itself be treated as misuse of his bail.

"In the considered opinion of this Court, resorting to legal remedies cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be said to be an act which may be termed to be a violation of the conditions of bail or which may amount to inducing, threatening, intimidating or influencing the petitioner and/or the prosecution witnesses.", the Court said. 

The case arose from an FIR registered on August 8, 2024 on DLF's complaint. Sanka had joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in June 2004 and was later elevated to Group Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of DLF Cyber City Developers Limited.

DLF alleged that he threatened to misuse confidential company data to extort ₹311 crore. He was arrested on January 3, 2025 and granted regular bail on December 9, 2025, after around 11 months in custody. DLF then sought cancellation of his bail, alleging that he had initiated multiple proceedings against the company before the Supreme Court and various High Courts while misusing confidential information.

The Court observed that Sanka appeared to have tendencies of a blackmailer and was not a saint but noted that he had already spent 11 months in custody and that the criminal trial remained pending before a Judicial Magistrate.

"No doubt, respondent No.2 appears to be having the tendencies of a blackmailer. He for sure, is not a saint. On account of that, the FIR in question stands registered against him. He was incarcerated for 11 months before being bailed out.", the Court observed. 

It further noted that although different courts had made observations against Sanka, he had instituted petitions alleging tax evasion and other violations by DLF. The veracity of these allegations, as well as those in the FIR against him, would have to be examined by the competent courts.

The Court emphasised that cancellation of bail is a drastic measure and cannot be ordered mechanically.

Holding that resorting to legal remedies did not violate bail conditions or amount to intimidation, it dismissed DLF's petition as devoid of merit

For the Petitioner (DLF Limited): Senior Advocates R.S. Cheema and R.S. Rai, Rajeev Anand, Advocates Kartikeya, Radhika Mehta, Satish Sharma, Farhad Kohli and Prince Bharol.

For Respondent No. 1 (State of Haryana): Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabherwal.

For Respondent No. 2 (Ramesh Sanka): Senior Advocate Ashok Aggarwal, Advocates Nilesh Bhardwaj, Shrenik Jain, Vineet Sehgal and Haripal