The Supreme Court has told the former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies Anil Kumar Sharma that he has cheated thousands of home buyers by siphoning their hard earned money and life savings and thus, deserves no sympathy.

The bail plea of the former CMD of Amrapali group has been rejected by the Supreme Court on the ground that he has cheated thousands of home buyers and did not deserve any sympathy.

A bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Bela M Trivedi have refused to issue notice to the prosecuting agency on the bail plea of Sharma, who has been in jail for over four years in the case.

The former CMD of the real estate group and other directors of the firm were arrested on the direction of the top court after the forensic audit report revealed that a large amount of home buyers’ money was siphoned off by the management.

It said the offence ran “very deep” and even the court was facing difficulties in tackling the problem.

The bench said that this case is not a case of simple cheating as it portrays plight of thousands of home buyers. Bench said that he cannot have the sympathy and better enjoy being in jail…

Earlier, the top court had granted Sharma interim bail for a few weeks on medical grounds in the case.

Sharma and others have been in jail after their arrest in 2018 for various offences, including that of cheating, criminal breach of trust and money laundering and have spent nearly four years in prison. They have been accused of siphoning home buyers money.

The apex court, in its July 23, 2019 verdict, had cracked down on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by home buyers and ordered the cancellation of registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA and ousted it from prime properties in the national capital region (NCR) by nixing the land leases.

The top court had directed a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into alleged money laundering by realtors, providing relief to over 42,000 home buyers of the Amrapali Group with the verdict.

Besides ED, the Economic Offence Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has also been investigating various cases lodged against the former officials of the real estate group.

The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail to former CMD of Amrapali Group of Companies, Anil Kumar Sharma, on medical grounds.

The Apex Court granted interim bail to Sharma for four weeks, after Advocate Manoj Singh, appearing for Sharma, said that he was suffering from infection and his health condition was deteriorating.

In its last hearing on August 4, a Bench comprising Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice Bela M. Trivedi had directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to file a status report by August 6.

The bench had also issued notices to the probe agencies on the plea.

The top court of the country had, on June 9, allowed Sharma to get his surgery for hernia conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), within a week.

However, the Apex Court refused to grant him bail for four weeks, as sought by his Counsel, stating that the allegations against Sharma were grave.

Sharma is lodged in Mandoli prison in Delhi.

The top court had refused to transfer and club over 80 criminal cases lodged by the home buyers against the directors and other officials of Amrapali group firms on March 21, saying it would make the life difficult for a trial judge.

The Counsel for one of the jailed officials of the real estate group had contended that the Supreme Court can take a decision, similar to coal scam cases, leading to trial in 85 criminal matters, which were of similar nature, being transferred to one court from seven different courts in the national capital.

Following a number of homebuyers knocking on its doors, alleging malpractices and non-delivery of homes or flats by the real estate company, the Supreme Court started monitoring the cases related to the Amrapali group.