The Supreme Court has ordered the seal of seven properties of Amrapali Group in Noida and Greater Noida, where the documents of its 46 companies are kept. The court said that after sealing these properties, its keys should be handed over to the registrar of the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justice U U Lalit, Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday ordered the Amrapali Group’s properties to be sealed in Rajgir and Buxar’s properties in Bihar. He asked the three directors of the group to give an affidavit that all the documents of the real estate company have not been kept anywhere other than these 9 properties. All three directors are in police custody.
He also said that only the forensic auditors and their representatives appointed by the court can enter the properties to be sealed. The Supreme Court said that until the properties of Noida and Greater Noida are sealed, the directors will be kept in the police station and not in the lockup.
The court on Tuesday directed the three directors of Amrapali Group – Anil Kumar Sharma, Shivpriya and Ajay Kumar – to be taken into police custody. He had said that the company was playing hide and seek with the court and was not following his instructions to hand over all the documents to the forensic auditors. This decision of the country’s largest court has come on the petition of Home Buyers, who are seeking possession of 42,000 flats from Amrapali Group.
The court has assigned Ravi Bhatia and Pawan Kumar Aggarwal to conduct the forensic audit of Amrapali Group. Both the auditors said that they have not received the documents of the Amrapali Group so far. The Supreme Court bench considered it a violation of its decision. He also asked why till now the real estate company has not given its account book to the auditors? The Supreme Court held that Amrapali’s account book till 2015 was finalized by insiders and statutory auditors. There is no record of the subsequent account book. The auditors told the court that despite its instructions, the group handed over all documents related to only two of the 46 companies – Amrapali Zodiac and Amrapali Princely Estates.
