New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the sealing of seven properties of the Amrapali group at Noida and Greater Noida where the documents related to its 46 group companies are kept.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud also ordered sealing of two properties of the group at Rajgir and Buxar in Bihar saying that after sealing of these properties, its keys be handed over to the registrar of the apex court.
The court had on Tuesday sent three directors of the group to police custody, directing them to hand over all the documents of the 46 group companies to forensic auditors.
The court said that the group promoter Anil Sharma and the two other directors of the real estate group will remain in police custody and not in jail till the papers are secured for a forensic audit, a day after they were whiskey away by police dramatically from inside the courtroom.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition by a bunch of aggrieved homebuyers, said it had enough of their “hide and seek”.
The bench was anguished over the fact that the Amrapali directors had failed in the last two months to hand over various relevant documents for a forensic audit.
The court has sought to know whether the money invested by the homebuyers were diverted for some other purposes and for this, an audit has been ordered. But these documents remained elusive and the bench came down heavily on Sharma and two directors who had been summoned.
“We don’t know if it will take one day or one month. But you will be in custody until all the documents are given to the auditors,” the bench had said as it directed the Delhi Police and Noida Police to work on tandem to seize the pertinent documents.
“You will now be released only after the auditors are satisfied that they have received all the documents,” clarified the bench, as it further issued formal notices of contempt of court.
It has also ordered for confiscation of the passport of the trio while fixing October 24 as the next date of hearing.
It is the third such incident in the recent past when people have been arrested inside the courtroom.
Subrata Roy was arrested over not complying with the court order to refund the money meant for reimbursing the investors. In the same case, another person was arrested inside the courtroom over resiling from his stand to buy a property of Sahara group.
| Edited by: Aakarshuk Sarna
Source: News18