Builder Amit Lunkad was granted bail by a Pune court on Tuesday with a surety of ₹1 lakh on Tuesday afternoon.
Sessions judge SS Gosavi allowed Lunkad’s bail on the condition that he pays the investors whose tenures have matured within eight days.
Lunkad was arrested by the city crime branch in connection with a cheating case involving several investors and was lodged in Yerawada central prison.
Lunkad through his lawyers had filed an affidavit in the court which stated that he would refund the investors’ money whose tenure had matured within eight days.
The court in its order mentioned that according to the affidavit, if the money is not refunded in 15 days’ time then the properties shown in the affidavit will be sold off and the money will be paid to the investors.
Lunkad was represented by advocates Sudhir Shah, Jitendra Sawant and Rahul Bharekar.
Lunkad was arrested on the night of June 21 from his residence by the crime branch after a complaint was lodged against him by Sanjay Vilas Honrao (48), a resident of Ambegaon Budruk. The lawyers informed the court that the four complainants were refunded through RTGS the same day and those investors who will claim refund will be paid. Lunkad realty has a professional history of 30 years and does not have a single criminal case lodged against the company and till date not even a single cheque has bounced. The defence lawyers said that their submission regarding the antecedents of the realty firm must be considered for granting bail.
He was sent to Yerawada central jail on judicial custody remand on charges of duping investors. Later, six other witnesses recorded their statements in the case. Following which the law for protection of investors’ interest was also invoked against Lunkad. A case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of MPID was registered at Yerawada police station against the realtor.
{{/usCountry}}He was sent to Yerawada central jail on judicial custody remand on charges of duping investors. Later, six other witnesses recorded their statements in the case. Following which the law for protection of investors’ interest was also invoked against Lunkad. A case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of MPID was registered at Yerawada police station against the realtor.
{{/usCountry}}According to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), there are 22 complaints lodged against Lunkad so far following his arrest.
Honrao in his complaint said that in July 2019 he had met Lunkad at his office in Kalyaninagar and during the meeting Lunkad allegedly promised him 15 per cent return per month on investment. Trusting Lunkad, Honrao invested ₹21,26,875 over the next two years. The complainant has alleged that he neither received the returns nor the principal amount that was invested after he asked for the money back from the builder.