published by, Pragati Pal
Last Update: May 05, 2023, 15:20 IST
The Supreme Court said that Anil Kumar Sharma cheated thousands of home buyers and does not deserve any sympathy. (File photo / Reuters)
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi declined to issue notice to the prosecuting agency on the bail plea of Anil Kumar Sharma, former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies, who has been in jail for over four years in the case.
The Supreme Court has rejected the bail plea of former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies, Anil Kumar Sharma, saying that he cheated thousands of home buyers and does not deserve any sympathy.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi refused to issue notice to the prosecuting agency on the bail plea of Sharma, who has been in jail for over four years in the case.
“You have cheated thousands of home buyers. You have embezzled their hard earned money and lifetime savings. You do not deserve any sympathy,” the bench said on Thursday.
The former CMD of the real estate group and other directors of the firm were arrested on the directions of the apex court after forensic audit reports revealed that huge amounts of home buyers’ money were embezzled by the management.
It said the crime was “very deep” and that even the court was facing difficulties in dealing with the problem.
“Not your ordinary cheating case. See the plight of thousands of home buyers. You can’t have our sympathy. You better enjoy your stay in jail… This court is well aware of what you did. You have created a mess and we cannot find a way out of it. A large number of home buyers are suffering,” the bench said.
Earlier, the apex court had granted interim bail for a few weeks to Sharma on health grounds in the case.
Sharma and others have been in jail for various offenses including cheating, criminal breach of trust and money laundering and have spent nearly four years in prison since their arrest in 2018. He has been accused of siphoning off home buyers’ money.
The apex court, in its July 23, 2019 judgement, had cracked down on builders guilty of breach of trust reposed by home buyers and ordered cancellation of Amrapali Group’s registration under the real estate law RERA and declared it a national level was evicted from prime properties. Capital Region (NCR) by abolishing land leases.
The apex court had directed an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into alleged money laundering by realtors, with the judgment bringing relief to over 42,000 home buyers of Amrapali Group.
Besides the ED, the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) of the Delhi Police are also probing various cases registered against former executives of the real estate group.
read all latest india news And karnataka election 2023 update here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)