Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Ex-Best Foods MD Dinesh Gupta In ₹1,740 Crore PMLA Case

The Delhi High Court on Saturday granted bail to Dinesh Gupta, former Managing Director of Best Foods Ltd, in a money laundering case arising from allegations that loan funds obtained from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India were diverted and siphoned off. The loan account was eventually declared a non-performing asset, with outstanding liabilities of about ₹1,740.30 crore.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that further incarceration was not warranted at this stage. The Court observed that the rigours of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had to be balanced against the applicant's right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, particularly in view of his prolonged custody and the likely delay in conclusion of trial.

“Therefore, balancing the right of the applicant to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India with the interest of the prosecution, and considering that the evidence sought to be relied upon by the prosecution is primarily documentary in nature and already stands collected, this Court is of the view that the rigours of Section 45 of the PMLA stand sufficiently addressed for the limited purpose of consideration of the present bail application and that further incarceration of the applicant is not warranted at this stage,” the Court observed.

The Court directed Gupta's release on furnishing a personal bond of ₹2 lakh and two sureties of the like amount. It imposed conditions including surrender of his passport, cooperation with further investigation and regular appearance before the trial court.

The case stems from a CBI FIR registered on November 2, 2020 against Best Foods Ltd, Gupta and others. The FIR alleged fraudulent diversion and siphoning of bank funds, submission of forged and fabricated documents, criminal breach of trust and misuse of loan facilities obtained from a consortium of banks.

According to the prosecution, Best Foods Ltd was engaged in processing and export of basmati rice and had availed substantial credit facilities from a consortium of banks. The prosecution alleged that loan funds were diverted through shell and related entities, layered through banking channels and used to acquire assets.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had first recorded an ECIR in 2022 on the basis of the same predicate FIR. That ECIR was later merged with a fresh ECIR registered in July 2025. Gupta was arrested on August 8, 2025.

The Court noted that Gupta had spent nearly ten months in custody. It also noted that the case remained at the stage of scrutiny and supply of documents.

The Court took into account that the ED had cited 54 witnesses and relied upon approximately 20,000 pages of documents. It further noted that the CBI had still not filed a chargesheet in the predicate offence registered in 2020.

“Most importantly, it is also not in dispute that the investigation in the predicate offence being conducted by the CBI, since the year 2020, i.e. for about six years, has not culminated into filing of a chargesheet till date.”, it noted.

The court further observed that although the first ECIR had been recorded in 2022, no coercive action had been taken against Gupta for about three years. He was ultimately arrested only in August 2025.

Holding that there was no likelihood of the trial commencing and concluding within a reasonable period, the Court granted bail. It clarified that its observations were confined to deciding the bail application and would not affect the merits of the case.