India, Dec. 13 -- A Pune sessions court has granted bail to Oves Malik, arrested in September for his alleged role in a fake GST invoice racket involving 58 shell firms and fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) worth Rs.561.58 crore.

Additional sessions judge B V Wagh in an order passed on December 9 held that Malik, behind bars since September 13, is entitled to bail on grounds of parity with the co-accused who have already been released and because the maximum punishment for the alleged offence/s is five years. Malik has been ordered to furnish a Rs.1 lakh personal bond with two solvent sureties; deposit his passport; refrain from leaving India without court permission; attend all future hearings; and comply with the conditions under secti...