Warrants against Sahara head in township scam
Delhi's chief metropolitan magistrate has issued bailable warrants against Sahara India chief Subrato Roy and his wife for alegedly defrauding 25,000 investors to the tune of Rs 250 crore in a proposed township in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). HT reports.
Delhi's chief metropolitan magistrate has issued bailable warrants against Sahara India chief Subrato Roy and his wife for alegedly defrauding 25,000 investors to the tune of Rs 250 crore in a proposed township in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR).
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav directed the Delhi Police to execute the warrant against Roy and four other company officials by February 9.
The order follows a complaint by one Neeraj Pandey, who approached the court stating he made an investment in the project in 2003.
Pandey added that despite tall promises being made to investors, till date no construction has been carried out on the site of the proposed project of 217 townships.
In his complaint, filed on April 12, 2009, Pandey had alleged that despite promises made in 2003, no progress was made in the project — 'Sahara Swarn Yojana' — in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the company, after six years, had offered to return R1.58 lakh to investors.
Yadav said, "It is apparent that till date, no allotment has been made to the complainant. It also apparent that even the site for the township has also not been disclosed to the complainant, giving rise to the presumption that despite collecting the money from the proposed allottee, the township has not been established."
Pandey's advocate Ashutosh Bhardwaj alleged that the company had fraudulently collected funds in excess of R250 crore promising dream homes for masses. The court noted that documents on record warrant a prima facie case to proceed against the accused.
"It is also apparent that false promises were held out to the general public through brochures/booklets," said the judge. Bhardwaj alleged that the company had illegally routed the money collected from investors for the housing project to other ventures.
However, Abhijit Sarkar, head, corporate communications, Sahara India Pariwar, denied the allegations levelled by Pandey. Sarkar added that Pandey had filed a false case against the company.