The Supreme Court has ordered the release on bail of a man accused of duping a businessman of ₹3.90 crores by falsely claiming to be the nephew of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

A bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi noted that the accused has already spent more than four years behind bars — while the maximum sentence for the alleged offences is seven years. The Court further observed that charges were framed in 2022, yet only the first witness out of 34 is currently under examination.

Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, representing the Delhi government, strongly opposed the bail request. He informed the Court that the prosecution’s plea to add forgery-related offences is still pending and that the accused is also facing other criminal cases. The ASG asserted that the accused was part of a wider scam involving misuse of names of top constitutional authorities.

However, the bench remained unmoved. “We have to go strictly by the law; we can’t digress,” Justice Maheshwari remarked. When the prosecution urged the Court to delay release until cross-examination of the complainant concludes, the judge replied, “No, nothing. Had this case reached us earlier, we would have granted bail earlier as well.”

The accused had approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea.

According to the FIR, the accused introduced himself as Ajay Shah, claiming to be the Home Minister’s nephew, and allegedly promised to secure a ₹90-crore government tender related to leather supply for renovation at the President’s Estate. The complainant allegedly paid ₹3.90 crores in cash and through RTGS transfers over multiple meetings.

A chargesheet was filed for cheating and criminal conspiracy. Subsequently, the prosecution sought to add charges under Sections 467, 471, and 120B IPC for allegedly issuing forged cheques as security.

Before the High Court, it was argued that the accused was deliberately delaying the trial — taking five dates just to continue the cross-examination of one witness — and had settled a similar cheating case earlier by paying ₹75 lakhs, which was allegedly sourced from the defrauded funds in the present matter.

Denying bail, the High Court had earlier observed:

“Considering the gravity and scope of allegations, the pending decision on adding offences under Sections 467/471/120B IPC which carry life imprisonment, and the accused’s criminal antecedents, I am not inclined to grant bail at this stage.”

Case: Ajay Kumar Nayyar vs. State of NCT of Delhi, SLP(Crl) No. 15356/2025