New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) A court here has dismissed a Delhi police report seeking to close a cheating case involving Rs 1,000 crore filed against Qatar-based company Hassad Foods for allegedly misappropriating the stock of an Indian company involved in export of basmati rice which it had acquired in 2013.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Chander Jit Singh said that the investigation in the matter was not complete and required to be investigated more.
The court noted that the expert opinion from FSL Rohini with respect to certain documents was pending, and said that the Investigating Officer (IO) should have waited for the report, and should have presented it in court, along with the statement of personnel concerned.
“Thus, it is clear that investigation is pending on this aspect and further investigation should be conducted,” the court said.
The court said that Bush Food Company — whose equity shares were acquired by Hassad Foods in 2013 — has given only five locations of their godowns to the banks, whereas they had given 10 locations of godown to the company which conducted the physical verification of their stock.
These sites should have been investigated and looked into, it said.
“In view of above noted discussion, thus, protest petition is allowed to the said extent and with direction to conduct further investigation and file report,” the judge said.
The protest petition, filed by advocates Kinnori Ghosh and Tushar Roy, claimed that police did not conduct the investigation in the matter and the probe conducted in a cross FIR against the present complainant has been “completely adopted and considered as gospel truth.” The protest petition was filed on behalf of Virkaran Awasty, the former Managing Director of Indian company Bush Foods Overseas Pvt Ltd (BFOPL), who is also an accused in the cross FIR filed by Hassad Netherlands BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar based company Hassad Foods Company.
Hassad Foods Company has alleged that the Indian company had fudged accounts and indulged in fictitious sales amounting to Rs 1,000 crore.
In his complaint, Awasty claimed that after the Qatar-based company invested money and took over the business of BFOPL, it ordered physical verification of its stock in 2013 on the request of the consortium of the lender banks, and it was concluded that the stock available with the Indian company in its warehouses was adequate and as per the records maintained by BFOPL.
However, he was later suspended from the company and “new management forcefully removed stocks from the warehouses” and a fresh stock verification of all the warehouses of the company was carried out “based on the diminished stock of the company BFOPL”, Awasty’s complaint said.
The Delhi Police had filed a cancellation report subsequent to its investigation on Awasty’s complaint.
The complainant, thereafter, had filed a protest petition against the police report, claiming that both the FIRs have identical facts.
However, while in present case a closure report has been filed, in the other FIR, the police have duly filed a charge sheet.
Awasty is absconding and is currently in London according to reports. A Delhi court is hearing proceedings seeking his extradition to India. PTI UK VN VN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.