SC offers breather to DSK, extends deadline for depositing money till Jan 19

DS Kulkarni, popularly known as DSK, on Friday, received a breather from the Supreme Court, which extended the deadline for the real estate developer to deposit Rs.50 crore till January 19, 2018, days after Bombay high court refused to given him additional time. Reacting to the SC order, DSK said that the money will be deposited within the prescribed period set by the apex court.

“The Supreme Court has extended the deadline for depositing Rs.50 crore till January 2018. We respect the SC order and will deposit money within the deadline,” Kulkarni said.

After the high court refused to extend interim relief to Kulkarni, the Pune-based real estate developer on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court for anticipatory bail. On Tuesday, the high court had vacated the interim protection from arrest of Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti after the duo failed to deposit Rs.50 crore within 15 days, as promised by them to prevent the arrest.

In his reaction following the SC breather, Kulkarni said, “We will not hold back anyone’s money and will ensure that no one is deceived. The Supreme Court has trusted us after considering our argument in the court. Now things will come to normalcy with our business returning on track.”

The developer, facing multiple police complaints from investors after he failed to repay their money, has been evading arrest since past two months. The developer has been accused of duping 2,774 investors by not returning their money invested with DSK as fixed deposits (FD) and debentures.

The DSK couple was booked on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust in November after an FIR was lodged against them at Shivajinagar police station on October 28. The case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) after which scores of duped investors lodged individual complaints which were compiled together by the EOW.

The Kulkarnis have been booked under Sections 420, 406 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as Sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act for cheating fixed deposit (FD) holders to the tune of Rs.200 crore.

Speaking to Hindustan Times on Thursday, Shirish Kulkarni, son of DS Kulkarni and managing director and chief executive officer of the group, said the family is exploring all options to prevent the arrest so that plan of returning the investors’ money can be worked out.

“Contrary to reports, my father and mother have not fled the city, they very much here and we are exploring all legal options,” said Shirish Kulkarni. Earlier, the EOW officials had said that they have formed teams to arrest the developer, who is facing financial crisis. Kulkarni in his recent press conference blamed demonetisation and market economic condition for pushing his business in troubles.