Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd shares plunged nearly 10% in intra-day trade on Friday, i.e. 6 September, after reports surfaced that a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed against the company and its promoters in the Delhi High Court alleging siphoning-off of funds.
However, the company responded through a BSE filing saying that the petition has not yet been filed as per the website records of the Delhi High Court, but has been leaked in the social media with malicious intent and vested interests to create turbulence in the stock price of the company.
At 3.20pm, the Indiabulls Housing Finance stock was trading at Rs 426.05, down 4.9%, after hitting an intra-day low of Rs 405, its lowest level in 52 weeks. The stock has corrected by a massive 63% in the past one year.
The company said that the purported PIL admits that the allegations are the same as in the petition of earlier petitioner Abhay Yadav which was subsequently withdrawn. “Abhay Yadav in his statement has admitted that the allegations against the company were based on false, incorrect and twisted data and that he had filed the petition at the behest of the mastermind of the blackmailing racket who was then subsequently arrested and is currently in jail,” the statement added.
“Instead of going to the right forums of various regulatory agencies and making the complaint… the petitioners have deliberately chosen the route of PIL to attract attention and play into the hands of blackmailers and corporate rivals at a sensitive time of merger process of Indiabulls Housing Finance and Laxmi Vilas Bank,” the statement said.
Gagan Banga, vice-chairman and managing director of Indiabulls Housing Finance, also told CNBC TV18 that the PIL was aimed at creating turbulence in the process of merger with Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
“The fact is that ever since we applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with Lakshmi Vilas Bank in April-May of this year, we have been hounded by several of these kinds of reports. There was a blackmailing attempt. It is well known in June. The perpetrators are finally in jail. They have also issued a public apology. Exactly the same content, which was used by them, has been picked up by these guys three months later. There is no difference,” Banga said.
“I will put this on record that no borrower of Indiabulls Housing, not a single borrower of Indiabulls Housing today, has even one rupee of either investment in any structure or loan in any structure to Sameer Gehlaut’s companies. As a matter of fact, Sameer Gehlaut has zero borrowings in India and this has been placed on record on your channel about one to one and a half months ago,” he added.
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Source: News18