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Informist, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – A division bench of the Delhi High Court has upheld a single-judge order to suspend a lookout circular against Wave Megacity Centre Pvt. Ltd.'s former director Manpreet Singh Chaddha, and allowed him to travel to Dubai and Europe from Dec. 22 to Jan. 1. 

 

"It is undisputed that the investigation in the present case has been pending since Jun. 6, 2022, and with respect to the FIR (first information report) registered by EOW (Economic offence wing) on Apr. 13, 2021, no charge sheet has been filed till date," the court said. Further, Chaddha has been involved in the investigation whenever he has been summoned by the investigating agencies and has disclosed the required information, it said.

 

The court said that the government had failed to disclose the timeframe within which the pending investigations would be concluded. "Needless to say, in such circumstances, the respondent (Chaddha) cannot be deprived of his right to travel abroad," it said.

 

Chaddha was the director of Wave Megacity when the latter raised an amount of INR 14 billion from 2,300 home-buyers. However, possession of the booked units was not handed over to any of the buyers at the time. In 2021, Wave Megacity filed a company petition under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, to seek insolvency proceedings against the company. 

 

While the company petition was pending adjudication, a first information report was registered by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police against Wave Megacity and its directors, including Chaddha, under Sections 406, 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. In the meantime, the tribunal dismissed the company's petition and imposed a penalty of INR 10 million against Wave Megacity and directed the government to conduct a probe into the company. Accordingly, a probe was ordered by the government.

 

In October 2023, the director, inspection and investigation, under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs informed the Bureau of Immigration that a lookout circular be issued against Chaddha. Thereafter, Chaddha moved the high court, seeking permission to travel abroad and suspend the lookout circular in the meantime. On Dec. 24, the single judge allowed Chaddha to travel abroad, against which the government moved the division bench.

 

The single judge failed to appreciate the fact that Chaddha, under the garb of creating a false impression of co-operating with the investigating agency, deliberately refrained from providing complete information to them, the government said. Chaddha did not provide the investigation officer the income tax returns as desired, his offshore ownership/stakes/interests until the filing of the petition, which includes a company in Belgium of which he was a director and various other companies he desired to conduct business with, said the government.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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