Appu Ghar fund siphoning case: HC grants interim bail to former BJP MLA’s son
Rakesh Babbar, the son of former Delhi BJP MLA OP Babbar is an accused in a cheating case registered in Gurugram on orders of the high court
The Punjab and Haryana high court has granted interim bail to Rakesh Babbar, one of the promoters of the controversial Gurugram amusement park, the Appu Ghar. Rakesh Babbar, the son of former Delhi BJP MLA OP Babbar is an accused in a cheating case registered in Gurugram on orders of the high court.
Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi recently ordered Babbar to appear before the chief judicial magistrate, Gurugram, and released him on interim bail on furnishing of bail bonds. A Gurugram court had earlier issued arrest warrants against Babbar in a cheating case pertaining to siphoning of the investors’ money.
On December 5, Gurugram chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Narender Singh had issued an arrest warrant against Rakesh Babbar for December 17. Meanwhile, three other promoters of the project—Robin Vijeshwar, Monny Vijeshwar and Gian Vijeshwar—also accused in the cheating case, were granted interim bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on December 3. Babbar’s arrest warrant was issued after his bail application was dismissed by Gurugram additional sessions judge Prashant Rana on December 4.
The case
On the directions of Punjab and Haryana HC, a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust was registered by Gurugram police in 2018 against Delhi-based businessman Rakesh Babbar, Gian Vijeshwar and other directors of M/s International Recreation and Amusement Limited (IRAL), the promoters of Appu Ghar amusement park, in Gurgram’s Sector 29. Last year, the HC had ordered that Gurugram CJM will monitor the investigations in the case. The FIR said the accused had cheated and indulged in criminal breach of trust with the complainant and other investors, thus depriving them of their hard-earned money. It said the directors have more than 17 private and limited companies and they collected about ₹400 crore from investors and transferred it to the accounts of other companies.
A perusal of various memorandums of understanding and license agreements with the investors executed between 2011 to 2014 has revealed that the investors were to be given assured monthly returns of about ₹50,000. Allegedly around 1,200 such agreements were entered into by the accused and around ₹400 crore was received in IRAL’s account to construct an amusement park, a retail mall, a family entertainment centre and a multi-level parking. However out of the four, only the amusement park is functional.
