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Land mafia behind fire, allege Pan Card Club investors; ask for CBI probe
According to Prashant Ranpise, chief, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) fire chief Area 51 of Pan Card Club caught fire and was completely gutted during the incident
PUNE: Officer bearers of Rashtrashakti Investors co-ordination committee, an umbrella organisations working for the protection of Pan Card Club investors have alleged that the recreational club was “set on fire allegedly by a land mafia so that it can bid and purchase the land at an extremely low price”.
The depositors have also demanded CBI investigation of the fire incident.
The Pan Card Club property in Baner is spread over 15 acres and its market value, as cited by the Investors panel is Rs 1,500 crore.
A fire took place on Monday. According to Prashant Ranpise, chief, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) fire chief Area 51 of Pan Card Club caught fire and was completely gutted during the incident. “The hotel had furniture, carpets and other easily flammable stuff that helped the fire spread easily. According to our men on the ground, the Pan Card Club administration took notice of the fire quite late which resulted in damage to the dome structure,” said Ranpise.
The Securities Appellate tribunal court in its order dated May 12, 2017, stated that property was to be sold and investors paid their dues. However, the sale was halted as the process went against the interests of the depositors.
The Pan Card Club began operations in 1997 and collected Rs 1,400 crore from depositors. On July 31, 2014, it was declared shut by SEBI for violations of norms. SEBI took custody of the entire property in Pune. The premises in Baner have been vacant since then.
Committee president Dnyaneshwar Darwatkar made these allegations during a media interaction at Pune Patrakar Sangha on Tuesday.
Darwatkar elaborated, “The land mafia has been eyeing this costly piece of real estate in the city and they wanted to purchase it at a very low price. Therefore, they set the Pan Card Club on fire. This property is under Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) custody and on March 4, 2019, we had informed authorities about thefts inside the building to the recovery officer via email. We informed them to step up security but our pleas went in vain.”
Over 50 lakh depositors across India are owed over Rs 7,000 crore in the now-defunct Pan Card Club investment scheme. The scheme included attractive returns on investment.
Mugutrao More, secretary, Pan Card Club said “ It is strange and surprising that property under the custody of SEBI caught fire when there was no electricity. The fire incident did not take place automatically but the building was set on fire. We want a CBI investigation into the fire incident .”
