Real estate developer Vatika, 4 directors booked for fraud

Sanjay Yadav

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Gurugram, March 28

Two separate FIRs have been registered against city-based private real estate developer M/s Vatika Limited and its directors for alleged fraud.

‘Did not honour agreement’

• A Noida-based builder company alleged that in 2012, the Vatika builder had entered into an agreement with it to set up a group housing society on the Noida firm’s over 10 acres in Gurugram
• The deal was struck for about Rs 144 crore, out of which the Noida company had given Rs 133 crore to the builder, but Vatika did not follow agreement

Will seek injunction against FIR

Vatika had filed a case against Assotech for the recovery of its dues in the High Court of Delhi in 2017. Thereafter, Assotech tried its best to file frivolous cases, but failed. By concealing facts in front of a district court in Noida, Assotech has received an illegal order to lodge this FIR in Gurugram. The company is confident and determined to move court and seek an injunction against this FIR. Vatika spokesperson

An FIR has been registered at the Sector 10-A police station for fraud of Rs 133 crore, while another was registered for cheating of Rs 36 lakh at the Kherki Daula police station. Both FIRs were registered on the recommendation of the economic offences wing (EOW) of the police on Monday.

In the case of cheating of Rs 133 crore, a Noida-based builder company, Assotech, alleged that in 2012, the Vatika builder had entered into an agreement with it to set up a group housing society on the Noida firm’s over 10 acres in the Sector 88 area in Gurugram. The deal was struck for about Rs 144 crore, out of which the Noida company had given Rs 133 crore to the builder, but Vatika did not follow the agreement.

As per the complaint, a petition was filed in a Noida court on behalf of M/s Assotech Limited of Noida. The court ordered the registration of an FIR, which was done on September 6 last year at the Sector 24 police station in Noida.

As the land was in the Sector 88 area in Gurugram, the file was sent to the Gurugram police and investigation was assigned to the EOW in October 2022.

In the complaint filed by Rajeev Srivastava, allegation of cheating has been levelled against M/s Vatika Limited and its directors Anil Bhalla, Gautam Bhalla, Brij Kishore Sing, Vijender Kumar and CFO Manish Agarwal.

“In 2012, the directors of Vatika Limited approached the complainant company and said they were the absolute owners of the land, measuring 10.043 acres, and also had full rights for developing a group housing society. An agreement was settled for Rs 144 crore and by April 2013, after paying about Rs 30 crore, the agreement was signed on April 22, 2013, and they started the work. In May 2013, the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) stopped the construction activities of the complainant on the land and started the work for the installation of a high-tension transmission line of the HVPNL of 400KV D/C from 400 kV substation Daulatabad to 400 kV S/S Sector-72 Gurugram, passing through the construction site/group housing in question. Consequently, the company was constrained to stop the work at the site. The company brought this to the notice of the accused, who accepted their wrongdoing and assured the complainant that they would get the rerouting of the HVPNL’s line within 180 days. They again demanded money and a total of Rs 133 crore paid to Vatika Limited by the complainant company. Later, it came to light that the planning to remove the high-tension line from here had been notified in the gazette in 2008 itself, while the accused never told about it to the complainant and later threatened the complainant,” read the complaint.