BENGALURU: A special court permitted the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, to implead Megacity (Bangalore) Developers and Builders Ltd (MBDL) as one of the accused in the case registered over the ‘Vajragiri Township Project’. Special Court Judge Ramachandra D Huddar recently allowed the applications filed by the SFIO.
The special court set up to try criminal cases against elected representatives also turned down the objections filed by former minister and MBDL Managing Director C P Yogeshwara, his wife Manju Kumari, his brother C P Gangadhareshwara, P Mahadevaiah and H R Ramesh, who are all directors of MBDL, and chartered account Sanjay Sreesha and auditor Sambashiv Rao.
According to the complaint filed by SFIO, Yogeshwara is liable for penal action under Section 266G and Section 628 of the Companies Act, 1956, in relation to the ‘Vajragiri’ real estate project floated by the MBDL. Almost 10,000 people were allegedly cheated in the project and almost Rs 60 was collected by MBDL as the booking amount.
The SFIO said it had made a mistake and it was due to oversight that it made only the company directors as accused in this case.
On hearing both SFIO and the accused, the special court said the company is a juristic person. So, unless the company is represented as an accused in the case, one cannot proceed with the case.
The court added that the complaint was made in 2012 but till date evidence has not been produced in the case. Last April, the Special Court had refused to discharge Yogeshwara and others in the case registered by SFIO. However, the very same court discharged them in the cheating case filed by the CID as MBDL was not named as an accused in the case.