SC refuses bail to Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, orders refund by year-end

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to grant interim bail to Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra in  a case lodged by some buyers of its housing projects in Gurgaon in connection with a case of alleged forgery.

A bench headed by chief justice Dipak Misra also made it clear to Chandra that he will have to refund homebuyers' money by 31 March 2018, and said it will consider the question of interim bail only after he furnishes details of the projects and buyers to whom money had to be refunded and deposits in the court registry a part of the sum that was needed to refund the investors.

''You have to refund the money by the end of the financial year,'' CJI Mishra told Chandra.

The court appointed advocate Pawan C Aggrawal as amicus curiae and asked him to submit details of those seeking refunds, people who had booked plots and those seeking flats. The bench clarified that the home buyers who were seeking refunds will be given money on a pro-rata basis and those wanting flats will be given these.

The bench rejected Chandra's counsel Abhimanyu Bhandari's proposal to hand over flats or refund money to homebuyers within two years. Bhandari said he had complied with all the conditions and deposited the amount directed by the court. The bench, however, refused to give reprieve and said it will consider all these issues on the next date of hearing, which is 15 September.

Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra had moved the apex court against an 11 August order of the Delhi High Court denying them interim bail. Five buyers of the Unitech's Anthea Floors Wildflower Country project, led by some Delhi residents, had filed a complaint for registration of a case against the company in 2015. More complaints over the same project followed and these were clubbed with the First Information Report.

A Delhi court sent the two Unitech promoters to seven-day police custody in connection with the three FIRs for allegedly cheating home buyers in its Greater Noida projects. Metropolitan Magistrate Mayuri Singh remanded Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra till 15 September after the police sought their custodial interrogation to probe the cheating cases.