NEW DELHI: Refusing to entertain the bail plea of Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra, the Supreme Court Monday asked his company to deposit Rs 1,000 crore to prove its bona fides.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also suggested that the partially complete flats of the company should be auctioned. Amicus curiae Pawanshri Agrawal told the bench Rs 1,865 crore was needed to refund the money of homebuyers.
Interestingly, days after resigning from the post of solicitor general, Ranjit Kumar appeared on behalf of Chandra and submitted that the company could sell the flats in the 64 projects to raise money to refund the flat buyers. Kumar, however, insisted that Chandra should be given at least four-week interim bail for the purpose and prepare a plan for raising the money needed to pay back the homebuyers and said, “We have already deposited Rs 130 crore.”
Both Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police on April 1, on complaints of cheating filed by homebuyers against them.
Five buyers of the Unitech’s Anthea Floors Wildflower Country project and some Delhi residents filed a complaint against the firm in 2015.
The apex court had in September asked Unitech flat buyers to spell out if they wanted their home or refund of money. CJI Misra had remarked that there was need to strike a balance between ‘one person’s bail’ and ‘tears of 16,299 flat buyers’. The court also made it clear that Unitech will have to either give possession of flats to the buyers or pay back their money, else its properties would be auctioned to pay the investors.