A district court in Saket, South Delhi, has dismissed the plea for “anticipatory bail” that Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director of SpiceJet (SG, Delhi International), filed several weeks ago in a case of alleged fraud, the Press Trust of India news agency reported on March 31.

The case is related to a transaction that had allegedly been agreed between SpiceJet and Delhi shopkeeper Sanjiv Nanda of 25 million shares in the airline in exchange for INR2.5 million rupees (USD32,900). Nanda claims that even though payment was made in full, 10 million of these shares were not transferred, prompting him to file a police complaint against Singh.

Because Singh reportedly refused to cooperate with the subsequent police investigation, he faces a non-bailable arrest warrant. Under Indian criminal law, anticipatory bail can temporarily release the individual even before an arrest is made. Singh’s lawyers lodged a plea seeking this protection from arrest while agreeing to cooperate with the investigation.

Nanda alleges that the accused deliberately and dishonestly gave him an outdated and invalid “delivery instruction slip” authorising the transfers of the shares. According to the news agency, the court said that using outdated slips is a serious and grave offence and that “all these aspects are a matter of dispute and require investigation.”

The police informed the court that the case had been transferred to its economic offences wing and that the investigation was in progress.

“Under these overall facts and circumstances and considering the gravity of offence and the aforementioned ratiocination held, this court does not find sufficient grounds to grant the relief sought in the application filed by the accused, and same is accordingly dismissed,” the judge concluded.

The news agency ANI reported that Delhi police said its probe had revealed that four other cases had been registered against Singh showing his alleged misconduct, that the investigation was at a crucial stage, and that there was a danger the accused could “manage the witnesses” in the case and tamper with evidence.

A SpiceJet spokesman told the newspaper The Hindu BusinessLine: “In the matter relating to the complaint filed at the Hauz Khas Police Station, Mr Ajay Singh, as per the Hon’ble Court’s directive, has already joined the investigation and appeared before the authorities. Therefore, no warrant or bail is relevant since these were to ensure his attendance. Mr Singh will continue to extend full cooperation in the matter to bring this frivolous and mischievous complaint to a close.”

In related news, India’s Supreme Court on March 31 urged SpiceJet and media mogul Kalanithi Maran, a former shareholder in the airline, to consider settling out of court their protracted dispute, allowing until April 12 to do so. Maran through his company KAL Airways held a controlling stake in SpiceJet between June 2010 and January 2015, and, as previously reported, the dispute is over differing versions of a 2015 share transfer. A Supreme Court bench said that the budget carrier had proposed a new settlement following Maran’s rejection of the previous one.