DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand high court on Monday declined to grant immediate relief to Dehradun-based builder and industrialist Sudhir Kumar Windlass and his three associates, who are facing fraud charges. A single bench of Justice Pankaj Purohit scheduled the next hearing on Windlass’s third bail application for the first week of July.
Windlass’s counsel said the 72-year-old was undergoing treatment for health complications at Himalayan Hospital in Dehradun, as per court directions. “We told the court that the chargesheet is under cloud before the Supreme Court, and since the trial is unlikely to conclude soon, he cannot be incarcerated indefinitely. There is no justification for keeping him in judicial custody without a conviction,” said Sanjeev Agarwal, Windlass’s lawyer. He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Dec 2023.
Windlass is accused of defrauding individuals by persuading them to sell land, which he then allegedly transferred to another businessman. After complaints from victims, the state govt launched a probe, later handing the case over to CBI. The CBI investigation implicated Windlass and three associates in the alleged scam.
A special CBI court refused to grant any relief to Windlass and his bail plea was rejected 12 months ago, after which he and others sought bail from the high court.
The defence argued that the “actual perpetrators,” now in prison, “tarnished Windlass’s reputation by fabricating documents, despite his standing as a respected businessman in Dehradun.” They maintained that Windlass had no role in the fraud and that others misused his name to illegally execute a land sale deed.
