SC grants bail to Amtek Group former director Arvind Dham in ‘Rs 25,000-crore bank fraud’ case

Supreme Court grants bail to former Amtek Group promoter Arvind Dham, accused in alleged Rs 25,000 crore bank fraud case

The Supreme Court Tuesday granted bail to the former promoter and director of Amtek Group, Arvind Dham, who is one of the accused in an alleged Rs 25,000 crore bank fraud scam.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe granted him bail on a plea challenging the August 19, 2025, order of the Delhi High Court denying him the relief. The high court had dismissed his bail plea saying that economic offences of “exceptional magnitude” erode the “fabric of economic governance and public trust and cannot be taken lightly”.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Dham on July 11, 2023, based on the predicate offence registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following written complaints from the IDBI Bank and the Bank of Maharashtra. The ED accused him of diverting loans through cheating, fraud and criminal breach of trust, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 673.35 crore to the banks.

Amtek Group had defaulted on loans exceeding Rs 25,000 crore taken from more than 15 banks. Its companies like ARG Limited, ACIL Limited, Amtek Auto Limited, Metallic Forging Limited and Castex Technologies Limited, along with other group firms, entered into insolvency, the resolution of which resulted in a massive haircut of more than 80 per cent for the banks, causing substantial loss.

While denying him relief, the high court had said, “Granting bail at this juncture would risk compromising both the trial and public confidence in the justice system. The seriousness of the charge, the weight of the evidence, and the statutory scheme all point in one direction. The applicant has not shown circumstances exceptional enough to justify departure from that path. Continued custody is thus warranted.”

The high court further said that the ED case is founded not on mere suspicion but on extensive documentary evidence and forensic audits which prima facie implicate Dham. “With the advancement of technology and Artificial Intelligence, economic offences such as money laundering have emerged as a serious threat to the financial system of the country. These offences pose a significant challenge for investigating agencies, given the complex and intricate nature of the transactions and the involvement of multiple actors,” it had said.

“A meticulous and thorough investigation is essential to ensure that innocent persons are not wrongfully implicated and that the actual offenders are brought to justice,” the court had added.

Dham’s proposed resolution plan, “envisaging payment of only Rs 35 crores against dues of over thousands of crores, reflects a near-total haircut to creditors. This underscores the irreparable nature of the alleged loss to the public exchequer. In such circumstances, premature release risks undermining efforts to secure accountability,” the high court had stated.