Court issues arrest warrant against Appu Ghar promoter

Rakesh Babbar’s bail application was dismissed by Gurugram additional sessions judge; 3 others get interim bail from Punjab and Haryana HC

CHANDIGARH: A Gurugram court has issued arrest warrants against Rakesh Babbar, one of the promoters of Appu Ghar, the controversial Gurugram amusement park, in a cheating case pertaining to siphoning of investors’ money. He is the son of former Delhi BJP MLA OP Babbar.

Gurugram chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Narender Singh on December 5 issued a warrant of arrest against Rakesh Babbar for December 17. The CJM has also ordered that Gurugram DCP (West), who heads the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case, shall appear in person in case the warrants of arrest were not executed. Meanwhile, three other promoters of the project, Robin Vijeshwar, Monny Vijeshwar and Gian Vijeshwar, also accused in the cheating case, were granted interim bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on December 3.

Babbar’s arrest warrant was issued after his bail application was dismissed by Gurugram additional sessions judge (ASJ), Prashant Rana on December 4.

9 MORE CASES COME TO COURT’S NOTICE

The Gurugram ASJ in his December 4 order said the accused are habitual offenders and have prima-facie committed similar offences at Jaipur by getting on lease 300 acres, received similar investment from around 1,000 investors in a project - Mega Tourism City, Aamer, Jaipur, since 2013 till 2018 on the pretext of giving them assured monthly returns. However, the returns were never given. “The said FIRs were registered against all the four accused Gian Vijeshwar, Robin Vijeshwar, Monny Vijeshwar and Rakesh Babbar and other directors of the company. Copies of nine such FIRs have been placed on record, by the counsel for the complainant. These FIRs are for commission of offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, fabrication and criminal conspiracy,’’ said the court. Quoting a Supreme Court ruling, the ASJ said thE economic offences are a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail. “The economic offences having deep-rooted conspiracy and involving huge loss to public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as a grave offence affecting the economy of the country as a whole and thereby causing a serious threat to the financial health of the country. Hence, the accused-applicant is not entitled to the extraordinary relief of pre-arrest bail, which is only granted in cases of false implication or where custodial interrogation is not required,” the order said.