NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court granted interim protection from arrest to a 70-year-old man, accused in a cheating case over an alleged Rs 27 crore gold deal.
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu asked the petitioner- accused, Vinod Golcha, to deposit, within three weeks, the amount equal to the value of the disputed 8 kg of gold, calculated at the rate prevailing on the date of the agreement, with the Court Registry.
It directed that the petitioner shall not be arrested in the meantime. Advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the petitioner, said 27 kg of the agreed 35 kg of gold had already been supplied and the dispute was limited to the remaining quantity.
Pointing out that the petitioner had cooperated with the probe, he offered to deposit the value of the balance gold. As per the prosecution, the complainant paid over Rs 27 crore for 36.460 kg of gold, but received only around 27 kg.