Caregiver gets bail in ₹6.93 crore fraud case involving retired IIT-Bombay professor

More than six months after her arrest, a Mumbai sessions court recently granted bail to a 34-year-old caregiver accused of cheating a retired IIT-Bombay professor of ₹6.93 crore, observing that the disputed transfer of assets must ultimately be decided by a civil court.

Nikita Naik was arrested on June 30 by Powai police following a complaint filed by the professor’s son, who alleged that she had shifted his 82-year-old father to an old-age home and misappropriated his finances.

The prosecution claimed that Naik exploited the elderly man’s age-related ailments, including loss of eyesight, to siphon off ₹1.03 crore in cash, remove jewellery worth ₹8.05 lakh from his locker, and secure a registered gift deed transferring a share in three flats valued at ₹4.89 crore between 2017 and 2025. Investigators also told the court that ₹2 crore seized from Naik’s bank account had been frozen.

Naik, however, denied all allegations in her bail plea, asserting that she was the man’s sole caregiver during the period as none of his family members lived with him. She maintained that the property transfers were made voluntarily “out of love and affection” through a registered gift deed, at a time when the retired professor was mentally sound, independently managing his affairs and had not lost his eyesight. She further contended that all documentation relating to the transfer was in place well before 2023.

In its order, the court noted that the informant was a highly educated former professor at a premier engineering institute, with one son working as a doctor in Pune and a daughter residing close to his flat. Observing that the alleged transactions took place over several years, were registered, and involved bank transfers, Additional Sessions Judge D G Dhoble said the rival claims of voluntary transfer versus fraud could only be settled in civil proceedings.

“The contentions that the informant voluntarily transferred the property and amounts under love and affection, and the allegations of fraud and cheating, are matters required to be decided by the civil court alone,” the judge observed, adding that a civil suit in the matter is already pending.

The court underlined that the case is based entirely on registered documents, the alleged proceeds of crime have been recovered and frozen, and the offences carry a maximum punishment of seven years, not life imprisonment or death. “In such cases, bail is the rule and jail is an exception,” it said.

Taking note of the fact that Naik, a mother of two, has been in custody since June and that the investigation is complete, the court held that her continued detention would amount to pre-trial punishment. She was granted bail on a surety of ₹25,000, subject to conditions, including a direction not to tamper with evidence.