Anita Goyal, Jet Airways’ founder Naresh’s wife passes away

Anita Goyal, wife of Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, passes away after battling cancer, impacting ongoing legal proceedings.

Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal’s wife Anita Goyal passed away at 3 a.m., his advocate Abad Ponda informed on May 16.

Anita Goyal passed away at Sir H.N. Reliance Private Hospital where she was battling cancer. She was brought home at their Mumbai residence for the funeral rituals which are likely to happen on May 16.

Goyal is survived by her husband, Naresh Goyal and their two children, Namrata Goyal and Nivaan Goyal. Goyal’s demise comes weeks after the Bombay High Court granted the couple a two-month-long interim bail in a money laundering case on medical grounds.

On May 6, the Bombay High Court granted interim bail to Mr. Goyal for two months on health and humanitarian grounds. He was released upon payment of ₹1 lakh with sureties as per the court orders. He was also directed to stay within the jurisdiction of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai and was asked to surrender his passport. 

Mr. Goyal, who is also undergoing cancer treatment at Sir H.N. Reliance Private Hospital, was arrested on September 1, 2023, by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case amounting to ₹538.62 crores that were given to Jet Airways by Canara Bank. After a special PMLA court denied him permanent bail on April 10, 2024, he approached the Bombay High Court to appeal for bail on medical grounds. 

Senior Advocates Harish Salve and Abad Ponda appearing for Mr. Goyal, had argued in their plea, that his wife is in the last stages of terminal cancer, and has only a few months to live, and that Mr. Goyal should be allowed to be with his wife on humanitarian grounds as it will provide emotional support at such a distressing time. “He is suffering from duodenal cancer, the treatment for which is complicated. Mr. Goyal’s wife, Anita, is in the last stages of terminal cancer. He should be allowed to be with her on humanitarian grounds,” the plea said. 

The plea also urged the court to consider his medical condition. “Consider the mental condition of a person who has been diagnosed with cancer. The wife has months to go. His wife, who has been given few months to live, can afford to have medical help but there is something called, ‘emotional support’. He is unable to decide about undertaking his own surgery at this age. Let him be with his wife for 1–3 months, whatever time God gives her,” Mr. Salve urged the court to grant interim bail under Article 21 of the constitution on humanitarian grounds.