The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant interim bail to jailed Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra till September 15 in a case of alleged forgery lodged by home buyers of its Gurugram-based housing project.
The court also assured the hassled home buyers, who had booked flats in Unitech group projects, of refund of their investment or delivery of homes while cautioning the firm’s promoters that they will not get bail till the customers’ grievances are redressed.
“Whoever (investors) wants their money back will get their money back and those who want flats will get their flats,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.
Added woes
Compounding the woes of the Chandra brothers, a Delhi court at Saket has allowed the police to interrogate them for the next seven days in connection with three FIRs alleging that they had cheated home buyers of their hard-earned money in its projects at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
Three FIRs
In one of the three FIRs, it has been alleged that the firm floated a residential project ‘Unitech Verve’ at Greater Noida in 2006 which was booked by complainant Ram Narain Aggarwal, a retired government employee, for an amount of Rs. 16.77 lakh.
The flat was scheduled to be delivered by December 2009, but the complainant has not yet got its possession, it alleged.
The other two FIRs also alleged non-delivery of flats to home buyers, and fraud by promoters. The Bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, appointed advocate Pawan C. Aggrawal as an amicus curiae to assist it in the matter and asked him to furnish details including the number of projects of the Unitech group, number of flat buyers seeking either refund or flats, the amount of money already refunded by the group and number of flat buyers who have been paid the principal amount.
Advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari, appearing for the promoters, said he can pay back money to each investor before the court but for that he needed to work from his office and raise funds.
Promoters’ appeal
“Giving me interim bail will solve the problem but keeping me in custody will not solve the problem. I have to recover money from various stakeholders so that I can payback all those who want their refunds. But for that I need to work from office,” Mr. Bhandari submitted.
He said the promoters have complied with all conditions imposed by the court and, as on date, Rs. 20 crore has been deposited in compliance with the earlier order.
Mr. Bhandari argued that his clients have demonstrated their bonafides by complying with all the conditions and he will return money to everyone.
The Chandra brothers are seeking interim bail from the apex court after the Delhi High Court on August 11 rejected their petition in a criminal case lodged in 2015 by 158 home buyers of Unitech projects’ — ‘Wild Flower Country’ and ‘Anthea Project’ — situated in Gurugram.
The Supreme Court had on September 1 said that although it is absolutely conscious that it is dealing with an application for bail, but “the consumers who have invested their money in various projects undertaken by the petitioners cannot be allowed to lurch in the dark. Their problem has to be solved”.
(With inputs from PTI)
