Court extends judicial custody of Unitech MD, kin

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) A court here has extended the judicial custody of Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra, who were arrested on August 9 on the charge of cheating buyers, informed sources said on Friday.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ashu Garg extended till August 25 the judicial custody of the two brothers after they were presented before him on the expiry of their two-day judicial custody granted earlier.

On August 9, Additional District and Sessions Judge Rakesh Pandit had dismissed their bail pleas and sent them to jail. The court had also directed police to present the brothers before the magistrate concerned on August 11.

"From a perusal of the record, it appears that the accused and his company were taking payments even without having requisite approvals for the purpose of construction of a residential colony...," the Sessions Judge had said.

"They have taken additional money, having reason to believe that the construction work cannot be carried out without requisite approvals," the court further observed, adding that it appears that the intention of Unitech company and its Managing Director from the very beginning was to cheat.

"In these circumstances, on merit, no grounds exists for bail. Accordingly, the bail application of accused Sanjay Chandra is dismissed," the court said in its August 9 order and ordered the arrest of Chandra and lodging in the Tihar Jail.

The court had also dismissed the bail application of Ajay Chandra.

The Chandra brothers were booked for cheating buyers as the real estate company Unitech first failed to complete Anthea Floors project in Gurugram's Sector 70 on time and then did not refund the money to home buyers.

The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing had said that there were 90 complaints against the two brothers. They were booked on charges of criminal breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.

The police said Unitech had collected Rs 363 crore from 557 customers for the residential project, even though no permission was taken from the competent authority.

Police also said their licence for the project was not approved by the competent authority.

The project was started in 2011, though Unitech obtained clearance in September 2013. The project was to be completed by 2014.

The accused allegedly continued booking flats without getting environmental clearance or giving the real picture to investors and thus misrepresented facts.

Sanjay Chandra was arrested in the case in March, but granted interim bail by a Delhi court on April 10.

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