SC refuses to grant bail to Unitech promoters Sanjay and Ajay Chandra in alleged forgery case

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra in an alleged 2015 forgery case. Chandra was granted interim bail on July 7 for a month after both his senior citizens parents were hospitalised for Covid-19 and he needed to be with them.

With the period of interim bail having expired on Thursday, a bench led by DY Chandrachud asked Chandra to surrender before the authorities by Monday.

The apex court said that the two brothers have failed to comply with its October 2017 order which asked them to deposit Rs 750 crore with the SC by December 31, 2017, to be eligible for bail.

The SC also asked the Central government to ensure that all aspects of illegality should be investigated by the competent investigative agencies.

This includes siphoning off of almost half of the homebuyers’ money by the erstwhile management, as pointed out by forensic auditors Grant Thornton.

It also asked the Delhi police to file a comprehensive affidavit giving steps being taken in this regard.

The two brothers through senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi claimed that they had deposited more than Rs 770 crore with the SC registry and thus have fulfilled the condition for securing their bail.

The apex court, however, refused to accept the argument noting that the deposit was made after the December 31, 2017 deadline and also the amount deposited has “been bought in as a result of monetisation of the Unitech assets” and also from income tax refunds. They have not themselves deposited the whole money,” the top court stated.

Justice Chandrachud also clarified that it cannot make any modification of the October 2017 order for granting bail as the same can be made only by a three-judge bench as the 2017 order was also passed by a bench of three judges.

Chandra and his brother Ajay are in Tihar jail since August 2017 in an alleged 2015 forgery case filed by flat buyers of Unitech’s Gurugram-based Anthea Floors Wildflower Country housing project in Sector 70. The brothers had moved the SC against the Delhi High Court’s refusal to grant bail.

On January 20, the SC had accepted the government’s proposal to take over the management control and had superseded its existing board and appointed a new board headed by Haryana cadre IAS officer Yudvir Singh Malik as its chairman and managing director.