SANJAY GAMBHIR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner seeks bail in case FIR No. 43/2011, under Sections 409/420/120B IPC, registered with Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Crime Branch, New Delhi.

(2.) The allegations against the petitioner are that he being the Director of M/s. D. D. Infrastructure, New Delhi along with the co-accused persons had launched certain projects of development of townships in Faridabad, Sonepat, Zirakpur and Mohali in the year 2005/2006 and had started receiving the booking amounts from general public for those proposed townships of the accused company and other group companies. It is alleged that the amounts running into crores of rupees from the general public was collected fraudulently and dishonestly since none of the proposed projects was licensed or approved from the concerned authorities. The public at large was lured to part with their hard earned money based on the false and fraudulent misrepresentations, concealment of material facts and on false assurances by way of advertisements as also other modes. Since none of the projects could be commenced and the amounts of money invested by the public was not refunded, a large number of investors led by Santosh Goel made complaint to EOW, New Delhi based on which the present FIR came to be registered against the petitioner and other co-accused persons including his wife, son and others. The petitioner was alleged to be one of the main Directors of the group companies and directly involved in the decision making process as also misrepresentations, assurances etc. During investigation, it came to be revealed that even the Letter of Intent of Faridabad Project was issued only in December, 2009. During investigation, it also came to be revealed that one of the group companies namely D. D. Housing, soon after launching the Faridabad Project, received FDI and pledged its equity to M/s. Beekman Helix India Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. vide various deeds and ultimately the said FDI Company acquired the entire land of the said company. It further came to be revealed that this FDI company transferred the entire equity holding to another company M/s. BPTP and in this way, the entire holding of the accused company and group companies got transferred to M/s. BPTP. On scrutiny of the documents executed in this regard, it came to be revealed that all these documents including various agreements as also the resignations of directors etc. were executed by the petitioner and other co-accused persons. The transfer of the shares of the company by the petitioner and other coaccused persons for huge consideration running into about 230 crores of rupees without the knowledge or even communication to the investors, was alleged to be fraudulent and deceitful act of the petitioner and his coaccused persons. In the status report, it is alleged that the magnitude of the transactions executed by the petitioner and other co-accused persons was so high that even a Chartered Accountant had to be employed by the investigating agency to look into the aspect of utilization of funds. It has been further alleged in the status report of the department that similar story emerged for the proposed projects of Zirakpur and Mohali where also the accused company received FDI and transferred its entire interest to the FDI company.

(3.) It has been alleged that the department has also received information from the Town & Country Planning, Haryana that as per the provision of Section 7 (i) of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act 1975, no person including property dealer, was authorized to sell/transfer or agree to transfer in any manner any plot/colony or make any advertisement and receive any amount without obtaining the licence from the department and similarly, the Town and Country Planning & Land Department of Punjab has also informed that no project at Zirakpur in the name of any of the group companies had been ever approved by the department. It has been further alleged that on receiving the booking amounts from the general public by way of concealment of facts is one aspect of the fraudulently cheating, whereas diversion and misappropriation of funds received as FDI and misappropriating the same is another aspect of fraudulently cheating the general public at large. In the status report, it is alleged that uptill now, 167 complainants have lodged their complaints with the department and though the details of the investments had not been provided by the accused persons, and large number of complaints are pouring in, a sum of Rs. 8.20 Crores approx. is seen to be invested by these 167 complainants.