Court takes note of SFIO charge-sheet against 287 in Bhushan Steel case

MUMBAI: A New Delhi court has taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the SFIO against 287 individuals and entities in the Bhushan Steel Ltd case. The next step involves framing of charges before the trial starts in what is likely to be a historical legal battle, given the voluminous chargesheet and the number of accused. The court divided the list of accused people into 11 batches for administrative convenience.

“It would be appropriate if accused persons are divided in a lot and summons are issued to them for different dates,” special judge (Companies Act) Neelam Singh observed. With the chargesheet running into over 70,000 pages, the court ordered that soft copies be supplied to those accused.

“Since record is bulky, only copy of complaint be sent along with the summons. Soft copy of rest of the documents be supplied to the accused persons after their appearance in the court,” according to the order accessed by ET.


The chargesheet cites fund diversion of Rs 45,818 crore, wrongful loss to banks and financial institutions of Rs 20,879 crore and wrongful gains by the company’s ex-promoters of Rs 3,500 crore.

“The allegations contained therein are prima facie substantiated with detailed investigation reports and corresponding annexures,” the court observed.

The allegations are neither self-contradictory not intrinsically untrustworthy and at the same time, are corroborated by the aforesaid evidence, Singh said in her 46-page order, taking cognisance of the alleged offences under the Indian Penal Code, Companies Act, 1956, and the Companies Act, 2013.

Further, it is found that sufficient material has been placed on record against the accused persons to face prosecution,” the order said.