Mumbai, March 12 A special court on Thursday dropped corruption charges in the multi-crore fraud case against Guruashish Construction Pvt Ltd and its directors Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan after the CBI concluded that no public servants were involved in the graft linked to the offense.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court transferred the Rs 140-crore case to the magistrate's court for further proceedings after noting that it lacks specific jurisdiction to proceed with the matter after the investigation agency's submission.
The case was presided over by special CBI Judge B Y Phad, as the initial complaint alleged a criminal conspiracy involving fraud and misconduct by Guruashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GCPL), its directors, and unidentified public servants.
However, the CBI, which investigated the case, named four primary accused parties under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for multiple offenses, including forgery and fraud, in its final chargesheet.
Those accused are Guruashish Construction, its two directors Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, as well as another firm, Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL).
The complainant, Debraj Bag, a retired Deputy General Manager of the Union Bank of India, also informed the court that after an internal examination and review of staff accountability guidelines, no officials of the government-run lender were found to be accountable for the matter.
The special court then dropped charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), a law aimed at curbing graft among public servants, from the case. The court noted that its jurisdiction under the PCA is specifically tied to cases involving at least one "public servant".
"As there are no public servants named as accused in the chargesheet, this special court lacks the specific jurisdiction to proceed with the matter," the Judge observed.
According to the prosecution case, registered on a complaint by the Union Bank of India, Guruashish Construction and its directors are accused of defrauding the PSU lender to the tune of Rs 140 crore.
It alleged that Guruashish Construction was granted a term loan of Rs 200 crore by the bank on October 15, 2010, and the same was disbursed in March 2011.
The term loan was granted by the bank for the development of about 40 acres of land in Mumbai's Goregaon (West) in accordance with an agreement signed by the private company with the state-run housing agency MHADA.
The bank alleged that the funds, however, were siphoned off and diverted for purposes other than those for which they were granted.