SATYANARAYAN SHARMA Vs. GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present bail application under Sec. 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ('Cr.P.C.') has been filed by the applicant seeking regular bail in case FIR bearing no. 142/2018, registered at Police Station EOW, Delhi, for offences punishable under Ss. 420/409/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC').

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the present FIR was registered on the complaint of one Sh. Sandeep Anand and others, against Directors of M/s Big Bull Infrastructure Ltd., who had alleged that they had purchased a plot from M/s Big Bull Infrastructure Ltd. in year 2013 at project 'Big Bull Ashiana' situated at Chandwaji, NH-8, Jaipur, Rajasthan and as per the pre-allotment letter, they had been assured to be provided with the possession of said plot within 20 months. However, the accused persons namely Satyanarayan Sharma, Yogesh Sharma and Chetan Sharma, all directors of M/s Big Bull Infrastructure Ltd. had executed MOU, but had kept on lingering the issue of delivering possession of said plot. It is stated that the complainant(s) had later on come to know that accused persons had not developed the said area as per MOU and had cheated many persons on the same pretext. It is stated that neither that area was developed by the accused persons nor did they return the money with interest to the investors. On the basis of these allegations, an enquiry was conducted by EOW and it was found that the accused persons were neither in possession of said land nor they had obtained any permission/license/approval from concerned government authorities for the construction of housing project named as 'Big Bull Ashiana' at Chandwaji, NH-8, Jaipur. It was also found that the land shown to complainants belonged to some other builder, and presently one project named as 'London Street' is in progress there, belonging to some other builders, and no project named as 'Big Bull Ashiana' had ever been constructed at the said plot. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the directors of M/s Big Bull Infrastructure i.e. Yogesh Sharma, Satyanarayan Sharma and Chetan Sharma, had neither applied in the Jaipur Development Authority for development of housing society nor had the accused obtained any permission/ approval from any government agencies. It is further stated that the land purchased by the accused in 2013 i.e. during inception of the project, had been sold later on. It is stated that the accused persons had misrepresented to the victims that they intended to develop the housing society, as no effective work was done by them ever in order to develop a housing society. It is submitted that during the investigation, the accused company had provided the documents, in respect of land purchased by it at District Chandwaji, Rajasthan, however, investigation revealed that the accused persons had induced the investors to invest in the project on the basis of land purchased, but, later on the same land had been sold to some other persons. It is also stated that investigation had revealed that the accused Yogesh Sharma had executed sale deed of some land and placed board of the project on larger part of the land which did not belong to him. During the course of investigation, present applicant Satyanarayan Sharma was arrested on 8/7/2019 and the co-accused Yogesh Sharma was arrested on 11/1/2019. However, co-accused Chetan Sharma never joined the investigation and on 31/1/2020, he was declared as Proclaimed Offender. The chargesheet as well as supplementary chargesheet qua the present accused/ applicant has been filed in the Court of learned CMM, West, Tis Hazari Court. It is further submitted in the status report that during the course of investigation, some land situated in Village Manoharpur and Bishangarh, at Tehsil Shahpura, Rajasthan, which was suspected to have been purchased out of cheated funds, was investigated and during physical verification of the land, land owners were examined and their statements were recorded. It is stated that during verification, it was revealed that the co-accused Yogesh Sharma had not paid the entire sale consideration to most of the land owners, due to which, the respective land owners did not deliver the premium of the land and the land still remains in the possession of the land owners. It is stated that the land was also not in the possession of the accused company. Investigation also revealed that the accused persons had also induced some other victims to invest in the abovementioned land under the upcoming new project namely 'Bigbull Bashera' located at Village Bishangarh, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

(3.) Learned counsel for the present accused/applicant states that the applicant herein has remained on interim bail for more than 02 years and he had not misused the liberty. It is submitted that in view of the compromise entered into between the co-accused Yogesh Sharma, who is the brother of the present applicant, with the complainants before the mediation, this Court had granted him interim bail and on the grounds of parity, the present applicant was also granted interim bail by the learned Trial Court vide order dtd. 19/12/2019. However, the same was not extended by the learned Trial Court vide order dtd. 10/1/2022 and the applicant herein had later surrendered before the Court on 12/8/2022 and since then, he has been in judicial custody. It is also submitted that the regular bail application filed before this Court was dismissed as withdrawn on 27/4/2023. Thereafter, his bail applications were dismissed by the learned MM and learned ASJ vide orders dtd. 16/10/2023 and 6/12/2023, respectively. It is argued that there are no allegations in the FIR against the present applicant, which can indicate his involvement in offence under Ss. 420/409 of IPC. It is also stated that he had only 33% share in the company in question and he is ready to abide by any condition imposed by this Court and deposit any amount, if so directed. It is also argued that there are material discrepancies in the FIR itself and there are various genuine defenses available to the applicant. It is also contended that the applicant has already been interrogated by the concerned police officials, and nothing remains to be recovered from him and thus, no purpose would be served by keeping him behind the bars. Therefore, it is prayed that the present applicant be granted regular bail.