New Delhi, Nov. 25 -- The Supreme Court agreed to quash all criminal proceedings against the erstwhile Sterling Biotech directors and billionaires, Nitin and Chetan Sandesaras, on the condition that they pay Rs.5100 crore to settle dues with the public banks that initiated fraud proceedings against the duo.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, on Monday, reasoned that once public money is deposited back with the lender banks, criminal proceedings in the matter can be brought to an end.

"It is apparent that since inception, this Court was of the view that if the petitioners are ready to deposit the amount as settled in OTS and public money comes back to lender banks, the continuation of the criminal proceedings would not ...