Nagpur-based firm financed flats in Adarsh Society

Adarsh Scam has got Nagpur connection

* Nagpur-based San Finance Corporation in which Abhay Sancheti is Director, financed eight flats, of which five transactions have been concluded to be ‘benami’ by the Commission of Inquiry
* The report also names Mukundrao Mankar, Amarsingh Waghmare, Uttam Gakhare from Nagpur in cases of benami transactions

By Kartik Lokhande
Sometimes, miracle happens. And, sometimes, miracles are made to happen. The latter has proven true in case of a peon and a driver with paltry monthly income, as a Nagpur-based company granted them loans of over Rs 50,00,000 to buy flats in the controversial Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in plush Colaba area in Mumbai. There are others also from Nagpur, who ventured to buy flats in the ‘tower of deceit’, with more-than-generous help from others. All of them have now found mention in the Commission of Inquiry’s report in Adarsh scam.
Suresh Atram, a peon with monthly income of Rs 9,000, was working as a Supervisor in M/s Khaitan Steel Company and also as a peon with SMS Infrastructure Limited, both firms based in Nagpur. He received monthly income of Rs 4,500 from each of these firms. He filled in the application form given by R C Thakur for a flat in Adarsh society, and later got allotted Flat No 904 with carpet area of 650 sq ft in B-Wing. According to Atram’s statement before the Commission of Inquiry, an amount Rs 59,50,000 was paid towards price of the said flat. He obtained Rs 10,53,000 loan from San Finance Corporation in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ajay Sancheti’s uncle Abhay Sancheti is Director. Shaktikumar Sancheti gave him loan of Rs 20,000 on ‘oral request’.
Interestingly, in his statement before the Commission, Suresh Atram categorically said that he ‘did not have evidence to show that the additional amount of Rs 39,50,000’ was paid by him. Similarly, Sudhakar Laxman Madke got Flat No 903 in B-Wing in Adarsh society. He was a driver with San Finance Corporation. Despite paltry monthly income, he got a loan of Rs 60 lakh by the same company for buying flat in the Adarsh society. San Finance Corporation extended similar finance to seven others including Rajesh Shantilal Bora (brother-in-law of Abhay Sancheti), Jagdishprasad Sharma, Parmanand K Hinduja, Manilal K Thakur, Lt Col (Retd) Paramhans Ram, and Col (Retd) late Amarjit Singh.
The Commission, in its report, observed that in five of these cases, the loans given to beneficiaries were without any security. Though it was stated orally that interest was liable to be charged from them, the Commission found no document to that effect. San Finance Corporation, which extended finance, did not take any action against persons who did not repay any amount of loan borrowed from it. “Taking this conduct on the part of both -- the borrower and the lender -- there is reason to believe that the the transactions of purchase of flats entered by them are benami transactions; San Finance Corporation being the real owner,” states the report.
The report has also indicted Paramveer Sancheti, son of Abhay Sancheti who is Director of SMS Infrastructure Limited in which BJP MP Ajay Sancheti is Non-Executive Vice-Chairman. According to the Commission, application of Paramveer was not scrutinised properly and hence he was ‘improperly declared as eligible’ for allotment of flat in the controversial society. At another place in the report, the Commission states that San Finance Corporation has given finances running into crores of rupees to 10 members of Adarsh society including Suresh Atram, Paramveer Sancheti, Paramhans Ram, Parmanand K Hinduja, Manilal Thakur, Rajesh Bora, Sudhakar Madke, Amarjit Singh, Amarsingh Waghmare, and J P Sharma.
In another instance, Assistant Supervisor with Container Corporation of India (Nagpur) Amarsingh Waghmare purchased Flat No 702 with carpet area of Rs 650 sq ft in A-Wing for Rs 80.50 lakh. Interestingly, he raised this amount by borrowing Rs 90 lakh from one Irawati Parkar by way of security deposit while giving the flat on rent to her. More interestingly, Waghmare got possession of the flat on the same date on which he entered into an agreement with Parkar. After scrutinising other details in the case, the inquiry commission observed, “Waghmare is only the benamidar and the real purchaser is Irawati Parkar.”
In one more instance, former Katol MLA Mukundrao G Mankar got Flat No 3004 with carpet area of 650 sq ft in B-Wing in Adarsh society. To purchase the flat, Mankar obtained a loan of Rs 67,69,880 from Nagpur-based firm Landscraper Realtors Private Limited. There was an agreement between Director of the company Sanjay Kondawar and Mankar with a condition that the firm will deal with the initial loan amount of Rs 50 lakh later on. The company paid a further amount of Rs 20 lakh at a later date. The Commission has observed that the transaction of loan creates some doubts that require to be considered to ascertain whether Mankar was a bonafide real purchaser or a benamidar.
Another such ‘not normal’ transaction pertaining to Nagpur involved in purchase of flat in Adarsh society, is that in the case of Uttam Ramkrishna Gakhare who got Flat No 1502 in A-Wing. “The purchase of a flat in Adarsh society by Gakhare is not a normal transaction free from any doubt. But, in the absence of any writing about the loan and want of delivery of possession of the flat, it cannot be positively concluded that the transaction of purchase of the said flat by Gakhare is necessarily a benami transaction,” the report states. As per the report, Gakhare paid Rs 51,15,394 for purchase of flat. Of this amount, he raised Rs 34,15,394 from Arundhati Upadhyay, who runs Centre Point School in Nagpur. He borrowed Rs 10 lakh in two instalments from Arundhati’s husband Arun Upadhyay. 

(Published in The Hitavada CityLineon December 21, 2013)