SC agrees to clear Sandesara brothers of bank fraud in ₹5,100-crore settlement

The Supreme Court has agreed to stay for a while all criminal cases against fugitive businessmen Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd and Sterling SEZ & Infrastructure Ltd. ₹5,100 crore compensation in a bank fraud case.

The billionaire brothers, who turned a small tea trading business into a distinct conglomerate, fled the country in 2017 after being accused of defrauding Indian banks of more than $1.7 billion. They were later included in the list of 14 fugitive economic criminals in 2018, along with Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya and diamond owners Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi approved the agreement in an order dated November 19. Mint, After Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Union government and all the investigating agencies, informed that the lenders have agreed to accept the amount as full payment of all liabilities.

“Further… the offer made by the learned attorney general was accepted and the petitioners agreed to deposit the amount mentioned in the offer subject to closure of all transactions,” the order said.

The agreement includes quashing of all cases filed against the brothers by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate, Serious Fraud Investigation Bureau, income tax department and proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Money Laundering Act and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

The amount must be deposited in the High Court registry on or before 17 December 2025; This date will deposit the funds in a fixed deposit earning short-term interest and their dues will be transferred to banks on a pro-rata basis after verification.

However, the panel made clear that the reduction was granted due to the unique facts of this case and should not be set as a precedent..

But the deal creates a potential legal pathway for similar arrangements in major financial fraud cases, and high-profile fugitives such as Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi may try to use it as leverage, lawyers say.

“It is not guaranteed, but quite plausible, that legal teams will explore similar remedies, especially now. Whether they will be successful depends largely on their negotiating power – how much assets they can collect – how aggressively banks and the state act for maximum recovery, and how the court sees the balance between the public interest (recovering the money) and holding serious economic offenders accountable,” said Tushar Agarwal, founder and managing partner of law firm CLAP Juris.

He added that before the Sandesara decision, the country had never seen a case where a financial settlement was accepted in a fraud involving such a large amount of public money. While FIRs are sometimes quashed after resolution of private commercial disputes, courts have traditionally rejected such agreements in matters related to public funds, state banks or investigations by central agencies such as the CBI and ED.

facts of the matter

The brothers reported to the court in February 2024 that a fine of $50 million was imposed. ₹According to the order details, 415 crore had already been deposited in the bank recovery account. They said $50 million would be deposited within three days and $100 million within eight weeks.

When the case was heard on November 18, 2025, the court reviewed financial records. The alleged tampering in the FIR. ₹5,383 crore and one-time settlement amount ₹6,761 crore. This included Indian companies such as Sterling Biotech, Sterling SEZ and PMT Machines, as well as foreign guarantor entities such as Sterling Port Ltd (SPL) and Sterling Oil Resources Ltd (SORL).

between ₹6,761 crore, the brothers had already paid ₹3,507.63 crore, leaving ₹3,253.37 crore outstanding. Banks also recovered ₹1,192 crore through insolvency proceedings involving Indian companies, while the remaining dues were reduced to 1,192 crore ₹2,061.37 crore.

After consulting with lenders and agencies, Mehta told the court that the final amount required to settle all cases ₹5,100 crore.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, speaking on behalf of the Sandesara brothers, said they were ready to pay the entire amount. The bank initially requested some temporary deposit. ₹2,062 crore and then approved the entire deal on November 19.

A WhatsApp request sent to Rohatgi for comment remained unanswered until publication. A separate emailed request to Mamta Binani, the liquidator of Sterling Biotech Ltd, also remained unanswered until publication.

The rise and fall of the siblings

The Sandesara brothers grew Sterling Group from a small tea trading business into a diversified conglomerate with interests in pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, healthcare, engineering and oil and gas. By the early 2010s the group was claiming a valuation of around $7 billion, and Sterling Biotech had become a major global producer of pharmaceutical-grade gelatin.

Apart from their Indian operations, they also expanded aggressively in Nigeria about two decades ago. Sterling Oil Exploration and Production Co. Ltd (SEEPCO) and Sterling Global Oil Resources Ltd, they founded the company that became the largest independent oil producer in the Southern African country. At one point, its operations contributed more than 2% of Nigeria’s government revenue. Bloomberg report.

But in India, investigators accused them of committing a massive bank fraud involving forged documents, shell entities and diversion of loan funds. After ED attachments and multiple charge sheets, the brothers fled India in 2017 using an Albanian passport.

Many Indian companies in the group are close to bankruptcy. Sterling Biotech was sold by the Indian bankruptcy court to US-based Perfect Day Inc. in 2019, while Sterling SEZ and other units went into liquidation. Indian banks also obtained UK court orders ordering Sandesara-linked entities to pay nearly $60 million.