The accused in the DLF case, realtors G.S. Gupta and Manoj Kumar Sharma, on Monday denied the allegations of cheating against them, stating that the dispute between their firm SBPL Infrastructure and real estate giant DLF was civil in nature.
Mr Manoj Sharma, the CEO of SBPL, said, “All joint venture projects are covered by Memorandums of Understanding and agreements which state that any disputes shall be referred to arbitration. DLF itself has filed arbitration applications in the city civil court.
“When the arbitration applications are pending, how can a criminal case be booked? And the dispute is between companies. Even shareholders have been made accused.” Central Crime Station officials have filed criminal cases against Mr G.S. Gupta, his family members, Mr Sharma and others, based on a complaint lodged by DLF on February 4, 2012. The subsequent chargesheet alleged that the accused had cheated DLF to the tune of Rs 280 crore in various projects.
“The MoU signed between GS Group and DLF in 2006 states that GSG would be responsible for identifying and acquiring sites including the Gandhi Medical College. DLF had paid only Rs 11 crore as part of the sale consideration out of Rs 87.5 crore that was to be paid by it,” said Mr Sharma. He added that it had been DLF’s request to extend it to 66 years from 33 years and the same was rejected by the state in 2009. On June 14, CCS had filed a petition for cancellation of bail for Mr Gupta and the others accused in the case.