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The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice in a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging the Allahabad High Court order whereby the high court had granted bail to the former Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) Managing Director Ayodhya Prasad Mishra. Mishra is accused of investing the General Provident Fund (GPF) amount of UPPCL employees in private companies.

A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice CT Ravikumar issued the notice while allowing the respondents two weeks' time to file a reply in the plea.

The Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for CBI apprised the court that thousands of crores of rupees have not been recovered yet.

However, Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha appearing for the accused submitted that the accused is a Senior Citizen and suffering from several health issues. To which, ASG Bhati submitted that the accused was a senior citizen even at the time when the fraud was committed, and the ailments being mentioned are regular lifestyle ailments.

Thereafter, the bench has issued the notice while allowing two weeks to file a response and a further one week to file a rejoinder. The bench has listed the matter for further hearing on April 8, 2022.

In context of the instant matter, it is alleged that money from state power employees’ provident fund (EPF) was diverted through wrong investments in Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) which had resulted in the scam of over rupees 2,600 crores. Mishra is one of the key accused persons who gained illegal commissions through this scam.

Allegedly in December 2016, in a meeting of the Trustees, a decision was taken with regard to the investment of funds available with the Trust. One of the said decisions was to invest the funds in DHFL. This was an illegal investment, done in abject violation of the Companies Act, 1956, Employees Provident Fund and Misc. Provisions Act, 1952 and provisions of the Indian Trust Act, 1882.

Initially, the matter was investigated by the Economic Offences Wing of the State Police and along with the Managing Director, the General Manager, Gupta was also arrested in November 2019. The first charge sheet in the case was filed against three persons in February 2020.

Subsequently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation in August 2020. It was allegedly found that Mishra, along with his co-conspirators had misappropriated corporation employees' fund money to invest in private sector entities in order to incur huge illegal commissions.

Case Title: Central Bureau of Investigation through Director Vs. Ayodhya Prasad Mishra