CRL.M.C. 4218/2025 Page 1 of 3 $~49 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + CRL.M.C. 4218/2025 & CRL.M.A. 18375/2025 STANDARD CHARTERED PLC .....Petitioner Through: Dr. Abhimanyu Chopra, Ms. Priyanka Shetty, Ms. Nafisa Khandeparkar, Mr. Aman Chaudhary and Mr. Kushagra Jain, Advocates versus SERIOUS FRAUD INVESTIGATION OFFICE .....Respondent Through: Mr.Amit Tiwari, CGSC with Mr.Divyanshu Bhardwaj, Ms.Ayushi Srivastava and Mr.Ayush Tanwar, Advocates CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA O R D E R % 06.08.2025 1. The petition herein is setting aside the impugned summons dated 07.03.2025 received on 22.05.2025, passed by the learned Special Judge (Companies Act), Dwarka Court, New Delhi, in pending Complaint Case No. 300/2019 filed by the respondent-SFIO vide which the petitioner bank was directed to appear as an accused through its representative on 01.09.2025. 2. Apropos, a hard copy of the report dated 04.08.2025 has been tendered in course of the hearing which has been seen and returned. Steps be taken to file the same in a digital form thereof. 3. At the very threshold, reference may be made to paragraphs 7 to 10 of This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 19/08/2025 at 13:31:15 CRL.M.C. 4218/2025 Page 2 of 3 the report, ibid. The same read as under:- “…7. That it was further revealed during the course of investigation that Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius) II Limited and III Limited (Accused Nos. 9 and 10), through their nominee directors, namely Rahul Raisurana and Namit Arora (Accused Nos. 4 and 5 respectively in SFIO criminal complaint), actively participated in the key board-level decisions and due diligence processes prior to their exit from BFOPL. They were integral to the representations made in financial and investment documents, including the Information Memorandum and Databook, which were later found to contain misstatements that misled the investor Hassad Netherlands BV. It was further revealed that nominee directors, namely Rahul Raisurana and Namit Arora (Accused Nos. 4 and 5), were actively involved in preparing documents and representing the financial health of BFOPL. They participated in eight board meetings and were aware of the company's precarious financial position of BFOPL. 8. That during the course of investigation it was found that an email dated 23.04.2023 was sent by Namit Arora (Accused No. 5) to Statutory Auditor, Mr. Jaideep Bhargava, Partner of Deloitte Haskins & Sells (Accused No. 7). The relevant contents of the email are extracted herein for the perusal of this Hon'ble Court: “…This email and any attachments are confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the addressee, do not disclose, copy, circulate or in any other way use or rely on the information contained in this email or any attachments. If received in error, notify the sender immediately and delete this email and any attachments from your system. Emails cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free as the message and any attachments could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, delayed, incomplete or amended. Standard Chartered PLC and its subsidiaries do not accept liability for damage caused by this email or any attachments and may monitor email traffic. Standard Chartered PLC is incorporated in England with limited liability under company number 966425 and has its registered office at I Aldermanbury Square, London, EC2V 7SB. Standard Chartered Bank ("SCB") is incorporated in England with limited liability by Royal Charter 1853, under reference ZC18. The Principal Office of SCB is situated in England at 1 Aldermanbury Square, London EC2V 7SB. In the United Kingdom, SCB is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority under FSA register number 114276. If you are receiving this email from SCB outside the UK please click http://www.standardcharlered.com/global/email disclaimer.html to refer to the information on other jurisdictions. A ccopy of the email dated 23.04.2023 sent by Namit Arora to Jaideep Bhargava is annexed herewith as ANNEXURE R1. This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 19/08/2025 at 13:31:15 CRL.M.C. 4218/2025 Page 3 of 3 9. That vide order dated 20.01.2025, the Ld. Special Judge. Companies Act, Dwarka Courts directed issuance of fresh summons to Accused Nos. 9 and 10, and in directions thereto, summons was issued on 07.03.2025. 10. That the Petitioner, Standard Chartered PLC has not been arrayed as an accused in the complaint and the summon was issued only to tender service of complaint to Accused No. 9 and 10, i.e., Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius) II & III Limited...” 4. In view of the aforesaid report, nothing survives for adjudication as petitioner bank has not been arrayed as accused. Thus, the summons dated 07.03.2025 received on 22.05.2025, passed by the learned Special Judge (Companies Act), Dwarka Court, New Delhi, qua the petitioner are hereby, quashed. Consequently, the petitioner stands discharged qua the proceedings initiated against it pursuant to the impugned summons. 5. Accordingly, the petition alongwith pending applications stand disposed of. ARUN MONGA, J AUGUST 6, 2025 dy This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 19/08/2025 at 13:31:15