CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday granted interim bail to T Dhevanathan Yadav, managing director of the Mylapore Hindu Benefit Fund-Nithi Company, in a case of swindling crores of rupees of the depositors and directed him to deposit Rs 100 crore of his own money in the account of the case to prove his bonafide in his undertaking regarding selling off the properties to settle the dues of the depositors.
Justice G Jayachandran passed the order for granting the interim bail with the conditions of furnishing a bond for Rs 10 lakh and two sureties for the same amount, surrendering passport, appearing before the special court for Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (TNPID) Act cases every Monday and surrendering before the special court after the expiry of the interim bail on October 30, 2025.
Dhevanathan was arrested on August 13, 2024, and has been incarcerated since then. During the hearing of the bail application, he gave an undertaking that if he was enlarged on bail, he would settle the dues of the depositors by selling off the properties.
His counsel S T S Murthy submitted that the properties are valued at Rs 633.97 crore whereas the payable amount was Rs 561.48 crore to 4,870 depositors. However, Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak, representing the EOW, submitted that the guideline value of the properties is Rs 36.91 crore and loan amount retrievable is Rs 49 crore; and so the cumulative amount is not sufficient to settle the defrauded amount of Rs 619 crore.
Ordering interim bail, the judge said, “In the said circumstances, long incarceration of this petitioner is not going to yield any result, except diminution of assets value available for liquidation.”