The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Delhi Police to arrest Amrapali Group Chairman and Managing Director Anil Sharma and two directors namely Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar.
This order was passed on an application filed by the DCP, Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police before the bench comprising of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice UU Lalit.
The court allowed the application and clarified that Delhi Police is free to arrest any or all of the directors of Amrapali group of Companies and any order passed by this court shall not come in the way of Delhi Police.
The court opined that prima facie, the case requires “serious investigation” and observed, “Let the Police investigate the entire gamut of scenario of the various projects, as projected in the case and various orders passed and investigate the entire matter Prima facie, we find that the case requires some serious investigation in the facts projected by the Directors, CFO and the statutory auditors.
The court directed the police to investigate the role played by Mr. Anil Mittal, Statutory Auditor and Mr. Chander Wadhwa, CFO and find out their criminality in the matter.
The court further ordered the directors to submit affidavits to the Deputy Commissioner indicating the methods of diversion of funds and creation of companies.
The court has been flooded with a batch of petitions filed by home buyers seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of Amrapali Group.
It has also been reported that Sharma, Priya and Kumar have been in the custody of Uttar Pradesh Police since last October and they have been kept in a Noida hotel upon the direction of Supreme Court. They have been accused of not cooperating with forensic auditors hence the court had directed them to be kept under surveillance in a hotel till investigation against the company is over.
The Delhi Police had now sought permission for their arrest in a separate case lodged under its EoW wing, under Sections 406(criminal breach of trust), 420(cheating), and 120B (punishment for conspiracy) of the IPC.
Court has further ordered the company and directors involved to deposit a sum of Rs 200 crores, which were taken on account of loans and advances, by March 31.
Courtesy/By: Sonali Tiwari
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02 Mar 2019
