Delhi court grants 30-day interim bail to Supertech chairman R K Arora

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday granted interim bail to R K Arora, the chairman and promoter of realty major Supertech Group, for a month on medical grounds in a money laundering case.

Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala granted relief to the accused on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

The judge directed the accused not to leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi or country without prior permission of the court and ordered him to surrender his passport in the court.

“The applicant shall not tamper with evidence nor otherwise indulge in any act or omission that is unlawful or that would prejudice the proceedings in the pending matter. The applicant will not use the liberty of interim bail for any other purpose except for better medical treatment/surgery, better nursing care and nutritional care,” the judge said.

The judge further directed him to give mobile phone number to the investigating officer, which he directed keep active and switched-on at all times.

“The applicant will share his live location daily in the morning and evening with the Investigating Officer. The applicant/accused shall not operate any bank account of the accused companies,” the judge added.

Arora sought interim bail for three months, claiming he was suffering from various ailments. He told the court that he has lost around 10 kg since his arrest and required 'urgent medical assistance'.

He was arrested on June 27, 2023 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The money laundering case against the Supertech Group, its directors and promoters stems from a clutch of FIRs registered by police in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

The Enforcement Directorate has been probing 26 FIRs registered by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh police against Supertech Ltd and its group companies for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, and criminal breach of trust and forgery. They have been accused of defrauding at least 670 homebuyers of Rs 164 crore.

According to the charge sheet, the company and its directors hatched a 'criminal conspiracy' to cheat people by collecting funds from prospective homebuyers in advance against flats booked in their real estate projects.

The company did not adhere to the agreed obligation of providing possession of the flats in time and 'defrauded' the general public, the agency has said.

The ED claimed its probe revealed the funds were collected by Supertech Ltd and other group companies from homebuyers.

The company also took project-specific term loans from banks and financial institutions for the purpose of construction of housing projects, the ED said.

However, these funds were 'misappropriated and diverted' for buying land in the name of other group companies which were pledged as collateral to borrow funds from banks and financial institutions, it added.

The Supertech Group also defaulted on payment to banks and financial institutions, in the process rendering around Rs 1,500 crore of such loans non-performing assets, the agency said.

Supertech Ltd, which was formed in 1988, has so far delivered around 80,000 apartments, mainly in the Delhi-NCR region. The company is currently developing around 25 projects across the National Capital Region (NCR). It is yet to give possession to more than 20,000 buyers.