New Delhi: Acting on 22 separate cases it filed just two days earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday raided 47 premises in Delhi-NCR linked to real estate developers, their promoters, directors, and employees. An analysis by ThePrint found a running theme in all 22 FIRs: the “no pre-EMI till delivery of possession or specified date of residential unit” clause advertised by developers.
Under this scheme, developers promised to pay home loan EMIs owed to banks on behalf of homebuyers who paid the booking amount, until such time that homebuyers gained possession. But as it turned out, a number of developers defaulted on EMIs they had promised to pay and also could not complete the project, leaving homebuyers in the lurch.
CBI registered the 22 FIRs Monday, a week after the Supreme Court accepted a status report for six preliminary enquiries (PEs) conducted by the agency based on Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) filed by hundreds of homebuyers.
The apex court had on 29 April asked CBI to probe the complaints.
In its order dated 22 July, that set the ball rolling for the CBI probe, the bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh observed: “We appreciate the outstanding efforts made by the CBI in the completion of the six preliminary enquiries for which, we believe that more than 1,000 persons have been examined and voluminous records have been looked into by them, besides visiting 58 project sites. We expect that even after registration of the regular cases, the CBI will, having regard to the magnitude and gravity of the issues, promptly investigate and take the investigation to its logical conclusion.”
The agency has sought six weeks to conclude the seventh and final preliminary enquiry into alleged collusion between real estate developers and financial institutions operating outside of Delhi-NCR.
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From Ghaziabad to Gurugram
The CBI opened its first PE to probe allegations made by 961 petitioners through 64 SLPs in the apex court against 11 projects of Supertech Ltd, its chairman and promoter R.K. Arora and his wife and son for allegedly duping homebuyers in the name of offering schemes in which homebuyers did not have to pay EMI till they were handed possession.
The entire scheme was allegedly implemented based on an agreement between banks or financial institutions, the homebuyers, and Supertech.
This was related to the purchase of flats in eino pre-EMI, booking amount, EMIS, Special Leave Petitions, complaints, cheating homebuyers, flatsght Supertech projects in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and Greater Noida, as well as three in Gurugram, the agency has found.
“While these projects were launched in the years 2010-2017, Supertech Limited started defaulting in payment of EMIs in the years 2018-2019 and neither constructed/completed the project nor continued to pay Pre-EMI/EMI as promised till handing over the possession of the flat to homebuyers,” CBI said in this FIR.
The agency opened its second PE to probe allegations against developers AVJ Developers (India), Earthcon Universal Infratech, Rudra Buildwell Projects, Geotech Promoters, Shubhkamna Buildtech, Bulland Buildtech, Decent Buildwell, and RudraBuildwell Construction, along with their directors and promoters.
The agency filed eight FIRs based on this PE and also booked unnamed bank officials from State Bank of Travancore (now merged into SBI), ICICI Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, as well as financial institutions DHFL, PNB Housing Finance, Indiabulls Housing Finance, TATA Capital Housing Finance and L&T Housing Finance for allegedly overlooking Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and sanctioning loans to homebuyers in coordination with the developers in question.
The agency also booked SahaInfratech, Logix City Developers, Docile Buildtech, Dream Procon, Shubhkamna Buildtech, as well as real estate major Jaypree Infratech, along with its promoters Sameer Gaur and Manoj Gaur, Sequel Buildcon and Ajnara India, along with their directors and promoters at the time of the alleged offence. The agency also booked unnamed officials of HDFC Bank based on findings from the third PE.
The fourth PE was related to allegations against real estate developers who allegedly duped homebuyers in Haryana’s Gurugram.
Based on its findings, the agency booked Vatika Ltd, CHD Developers, and Ninex Developers, along with their directors and promoters, in three separate FIRs. The agency also booked unnamed officials of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank for conspiracy and overlooking guidelines before sanctioning loans for the projects proposed by the developers.
The agency also booked two former subsidiaries of the Jaypee Group—Jaypee Sports International Limited (JSIL) and Jaiprakash Associates—and their promoters, Manoj and Sameer Gaur, on charges of cheating homebuyers by not completing projects in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority area, despite having received loan amounts upfront from banks and financial institutions.
The agency further filed two more FIRs based on its last concluded PE and booked two firms—Idea Builders and Manju J Homes—on similar charges.
The agency alleged that Idea Builders came up with a project named ‘Red Apple Residency’ in Ghaziabad’s Raj Nagar Extension, for which homebuyers got home loans through their association with PNB and SBI.
According to the agency, while the Ghaziabad Development Authority had sanctioned a map for 11 floors in the proposed housing project, the developers secured a booking amount for flats up to the 14th floor.
In the case against Manju J Homes, the agency alleged that the firm obtained loans sanctioned by SBI for homebuyers to purchase flats up to the 16th floor, whereas GDA had sanctioned the construction of buildings only up to the 7th floor in the project ‘Red Apple Homez’.
“Enquiry revealed that M/s. Manju J Homes India Limited defaulted in payment of Pre-EMIs as promised till handing over the possession of the flat to homebuyers and has not completed the project. They neither delivered possession of the residential units to homebuyers nor refunded their deposited amount. Said project is incomplete and abandoned and no possession has been given to any homebuyer. It clearly indicates that the homebuyers have been cheated by M/sManju J Homes India Limited in conspiracy with unknown officials of SBI, thereby causing wrongful loss to the homebuyers and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves,” the agency alleged in the FIR.
“Enquiry revealed that the bank started deducting EMI from the homebuyers and in the event of default reported the homebuyer’s accounts as NPA and thereby CIBIL of the homebuyers were degraded,” the CBI said in all 22 FIRs registered on the approval of the Supreme Court.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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