Mumbai: Chairman of Edelweiss Financial Services and the CEO of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court to quash the FIR registered against them for allegedly abetting the suicide of art director Nitin Desai, sources said. It is learnt that Rashesh Shah, Chairman Edelweiss Financial Services and Raj Kumar Bansal, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Limited, mentioned the pleas before a bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and RN Laddha through Senior Advocate Amit Desai.
Also read: FIR registered against Edelweiss Group chairman, four others in Nitin Desai suicide case
In the pleas, the petitioners sought an urgent hearing on the pleas seeking interim relief of “no coercive steps” and a stay of investigation against them. The case has been registered against the duo in connection with the suicide of Bollywood Art Director Nitin Chandrakant Desai. Desai was found dead inside the premises of his own studio at Karjat on Aug. 2.
While the autopsy report confirmed death by hanging, Desai, in several audio clips he left behind, cited the pressure from the loans he took from the company for taking the extreme step. Following the audio clips, Desai’s wife Naina registered a complaint against Edelweiss at the Khalapur police station. Following the complaint, police registered an FIR for abetment of suicide case against Shah and Bansal besides one Jitendra Kothari and two others under Sections 306, 34 of the IPC.
However, the Edelweiss issued a statement that it had disbursed loans at the prevailing market rates. It is learnt that Desai,promoter of ND's Art World Pvt Ltd (NDAWPL), had taken loans of Rs 150 crore and Rs 35 crore in 2016 and 2018, respectively, from ECL Finance Ltd.
