Act allegedly on behalf of jeweller Sukesh Gupta: Police
The famous King Koti palace, where the last Nizam stayed, turned into a war zone on Monday with scores of people, allegedly acting on behalf of jeweller Sukesh Gupta, an accused in several bank and land fraud cases, forcibly trying to gain entry into the palace and take possession of the premises.
The Nazri Bagh Palace Trust, the custodian of the palace, had handed over the possession of the palace and issued delivery certificate to the Mumbai-based Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt Ltd on March 28 after the company completed the sale transaction.
According to police, about 140 persons, some of them even carrying swords and lathis, tried to enter the palace and break open the gate using an earthmover. The city police acted swiftly and took 40 people into custody.
Assistant commissioner of police K. Venkat Reddy said a case of trespassing was registered against people who tried to enter the palace and an inquiry is on.
Both parties claiming possession of the property were summoned by the police at theNarayanguda police station where. Interestingly, the representative of Sukesh Gupta at one stage proposed that the police take control of the palace and keep it in their custody till the dispute is resolved.
Significantly, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a case against Sukesh Gupta on charges of money laundering and selling the palace using fraudulent documents and fake sale deeds.
According to police, about 140 persons, some of them even carrying swords and lathis, tried to enter the palace and break open the gate using an earthmover. The city police acted swiftly and took 40 people into custody.
A case with similar allegations is also underway in National Company Law Tribunal.
Rajesh Agarwal of Neeharika Infrastructure told this correspondent that Sukesh Gupta had initially entered into an agreement with the trust and his company later invested Rs 70 crore, cleared all the arrears including the pending amount to be paid to the Trust and took possession of 28,000 square yards property.
Agarwal also alleged that Sukesh Gupta’s men who were acting as directors had forged board resolutions and sold the property to another company with backdated sale deed. “However, the trust after receiving the full sale consideration handed over the possession to us,” Agarwal said, adding “attempts were being made to project as if we were not in possession.”
Agrawal also alleged that a city ruling party MLA had been helping Sukesh Gupta and presence of a confidant of the MLA and his demand to the police to release his men gave credence to these allegations.
Meanwhile, Neeharika Infrastructure moved a lunch motion in the Telangana High Court seeking a direction to the police to not interfere in the case as it was a civil dispute. The court will take up the case for hearing on Tuesday.
**********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com