BENGALURU: The CBI Special Court has declared Ramachandran Vishwanathan, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Devas Multimedia, as a fugitive economic offender.
Judge KL Ashok passed the order on June 8, allowing the application filed by the ED, Bengaluru Zone, under Section 4 read with Sections 10 and 12 of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. The court also passed the order to confiscate crores of rupees worth scheduled properties, investments and amounts in bank accounts that are proceeds of the crime, shown in the order under Section 12(2) of the Act.
“Admittedly, Ramachandran was duly served a summons by this court. Thereafter as he did not appear before the court, a non-bailable warrant came to be issued against him. As such there is an active warrant against him. Admittedly he is in the United States of America which is a foreign country and being abroad he has refused to return to India to face criminal prosecution. Therefore the requirement under section 2(f) of the Act is clearly applicable to this accused,” the court said.
To prove their case, the ED deputy director examined himself and deposed regarding the case of the pending warrant. The court noted that Devas Multimedia is under the control of Ramachandran, who is accused No 2. The amount held in the name of Antrix Corporation has been transferred from Devas Multimedia and is said to be part of the proceeds of the crime.
A provisional attachment order has already been passed against the properties and the order has also been confirmed by the adjudicating authority. It is to be held that the prosecution has established that Ramachandran is a fugitive economic offender and is liable to be declared as such, the court added.
After the CBI had registered the FIR under the provisions of IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against Ramachandran, the ED registered a crime in 2015 with regard to properties that are proceeds of crime. The notice was served on him in December 2022, but he remained absent. Now, an open-ended non-bailable warrant has been issued against him and Devas Multimedia which is still pending execution.