SC sends three Amrapali directors to police custody

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered police to take three directors of the embattled real estate firm Amrapali Group, Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar, into custody. The apex court castigated the firm for playing “hide and seek” and not complying with its orders to hand over all the documents to forensic auditors.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sent three directors of the Amrapali group to police custody, directing them to hand over all the documents of the 46 group companies to forensic auditors.

A Bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice U U Lalit took exception to the Amprapali group for not handing over the documents to forensic auditors and said that they will remain in police custody till they hand over all the documents. The three directors are Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar.

The apex court’s order came on a batch of petitions filed by home buyers who are seeking possession of around 42,000 flats The court said the conduct of the directors was in “gross violation” of its order. “You are playing hide and seek. You are trying to mislead the court,” the bench said. It directed the Delhi police to seize all the documents of the Amrapali group and hand them over to forensic auditors, emphasising that not a single document of these firms should remain in custody of the group.

The Supreme Court said Delhi Police was free to investigate a complaint against Amrapali Group of companies as the court had not stayed a criminal investigation in any case against the firm.

The court had earlier allowed National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to float tenders for selecting the builder to complete the stalled projects of Amrapali Group and asked it to prepare a detailed project report for pending projects within 60 days.

On September 12, the apex court had appointed NBCC to develop stalled projects of the realty firm and directed the Debts Recovery Tribunal to sell the unencumbered commercial properties of the group. It had also directed the opening of an escrow account in the apex court in which the amount received after the sale of properties would be deposited and later disbursed to the NBCC to start construction of the pending projects in Group A and B Categories.

The three directors are Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar