Supreme Court Permits IDBI Bank to Conclude Forensic Audit of Ruchi Soya

The Supreme Court has granted permission for a forensic audit of Ruchi Soya Industries, now under the control of Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved. The court has also requested the previous management of the company to cooperate with the audit. The audit is being conducted following a request by IDBI Bank, which leads a group of lenders for Ruchi Soya.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing IDBI Bank, emphasized the importance of completing the forensic audit to uncover any potential misappropriation of around ₹9,000 crores of public funds that were provided to the company by banks. Mehta, along with counsels Akshay Sapre and Abhijeet Swaroop, argued that only a forensic audit can reveal any financial mismanagement within the company.

IDBI Bank’s consortium has challenged a previous order from the Madhya Pradesh High Court that rejected their plea for resuming contempt proceedings against the former management of Ruchi Soya. The bank asserted that its legal team had mistakenly indicated that the forensic audit had concluded, leading to the High Court disposing of their contempt petition.

The bank alleged that the former Managing Director, Dinesh Shahra, failed to cooperate with the forensic audit despite the company’s earlier commitments. The forensic audit was initially directed by the High Court in December 2019. The case is scheduled for further proceedings in January.