The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave an extension to Florida-based businessman Digvijay (Danny) Gaekwad till Thursday afternoon to deposit the earnest amount of Rs 600 crore for his competing offer to acquire a majority stake in Religare Enterprises, permitting a cash deposit for the same.

A bench of chief justice Sanjiv Khanna and justices PV Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan said, “Without going into these controversies, we permit the applicant to deposit Rs 600 crore by way of transfer to a bank account nominated by the RBI to enable the applicant to deposit the money by 02.00 p.m. on February 13. We direct the RBI to permit such deposit by giving details of an appropriate bank account as well as the SWIFT number immediately, so as to enable the applicant to transfer the amount in terms of this order.”

This comes after Gaekwad had petitioned the court to grant an extension of five business days with regard to the Supreme Court’s February 7 order directing him to deposit the amount by Wednesday. Gaekwad’s petition said that he was fully ready and willing to comply with the order and has funds ready with him, but is awaiting the RBI approval to remit funds. The time process of obtaining bank guarantee is also beyond his control, he added.

The latest order clarified that except this modification, the other terms and conditions mentioned in the February 7 order shall remain unchanged.

The order noted that the respondents have made allegations, stating that a writ petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court to stall the public offer. On Tuesday, Rashmi Saluja, the ousted chairperson of the company, filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court to quash the open offer by Burman family-led entities.