IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

Civil Appellate Jurisdiction

Appellate Side

Present:

The Hon’ble Justice Debangsu Basak

And

The Hon’ble Justice Prasenjit Biswas

MAT 1823 of 2023

With

IA No : CAN 1 of 2023

Union of India and Anr.

Vs.

Prashant Bothra and Ors.

With

MAT 1889 of 2023

With

IA No : CAN 1 of 2023

Bank of Baroda

Vs.

Prashant Bothra and Ors.

For the Appellants in : Mr. Dhiraj Kumar Trivedi, Ld. DSGI

MAT 1823 of 2023/SFIO Mr. Sukanta Chakraborty, Adv.

Mr. Soumava Ghosh, Adv.

Ms. Isabella Pal, Adv.

Mr. Venkateshwar Sonkar, Adv.

For the Appellant in : Mr. Jishnu Chaudhury, Sr. Adv.

MAT 1889 of 2023 Mr. Soumabho Ghose, Adv.

Mr. S.K. Singhi, Adv. Mr. Ayant Shaw, Adv. Mr. Jhanvi Jain, Adv.

For the Respondents : Mr. Sabyasachi Chowdhury, Sr. Adv.

Nos. 1 & 2 in both Mr. Rajashree Dutta, Adv.

Appeals Mr. Sanjib Dawn, Adv.

Ms. Shreyaan Bhattacharyya, Adv.

For the Respondent No. 6 : Mr. Ranajit Chowdhury, Adv.

in MAT 1823 of 2023, for Ms. Sampooma Saha, Adv.

Respondent No. 5 in MAT

subha

karmakar Digitaly signed by subha karmakar Date: 2025.08.21

1889 of 2023 For the Respondent no. 4 : Mr. Victor Dutta, Adv.

In MAT 1889 of 2023 &

Respondent no. 5 in MAT

1823 of 2023 Hearing Concluded on : August 5, 2025 Judgement on : August 21, 2025 DEBANGSU BASAK, J.:-

Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Contentions of SFIO ................................................................................................................... 3 Contentions of Private Respondents ..................................................................................... 6 Issues .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Events ............................................................................................................................................. 9 Analysis on Issue No. 1 ........................................................................................................... 12 - Sections 211, 212 and 447 of the Companies Act, 2013 ....................................... 13 - Memorandum dated February 22, 2022 ..................................................................... 20 - SFIO and its actions ........................................................................................................... 23 Answer to Issue No. 1 .............................................................................................................. 24 Analysis on Issue No. 2. ......................................................................................................... 25 - Tools of Recovery ................................................................................................................. 29 - NPA and its impact ............................................................................................................. 31 - Application of Ratio of Rajesh Agarwal (supra) ......................................................... 32 - Master Directions on Frauds ........................................................................................... 34 - Civil and Criminal liability of banking transaction .................................................. 37 Answer to Issue No. 2 .............................................................................................................. 40 Issue No. 3................................................................................................................................... 40 Epilogue ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Preface

1. Two appeals have been heard analogously as they emanate out of the same impugned judgment and order dated September 5, 2024 passed by the learned Single Judge in WPA 25668 of 2022.

2. Bank of Baroda has filed MAT 1889 of 2023 while Union of India a