Apex court orders sealing of nine Amrapali properties

NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered sealing of nine properties of real estate firm Amrapali — seven in Noida, Greater Noida and two in Rajgir and Buxar in Bihar — after three company directors, who are in police custody, told the court that documents related to group’s 46 firms were stored there.

The Noida police began sealing the premises on Wednesday.

A bench of justices Arun Misra and UU Lalit issued the order at an urgent hearing that was held post lunch following a request by the group’s advocate. On Tuesday, the court had sent three directors of Amrapali group to police custody until the documents were seized and handed over to the court-appointed forensic auditors. The directors — Anil Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar — were taken into custody from within the court premises by the Tilak Marg police.

Issuing specific directions to the police of the areas concerned, the bench said once the sealing is done keys of the premises have to be handed over to the top court registry to ensure forensic auditors access the documents.

After the directors gave an undertaking that the documents were not kept at any other place except the nine properties, the court warned them of serious consequences if their information was found to be incorrect. It further said that only the courtappointed forensic auditors and their authorised representatives can enter the premises, which are to be sealed.

The court also said that the directors be kept at police station and not in the lock-up till the seven premises in Noida and Greater Noida are sealed.