Indiabulls Housing Finance and M3M executives face FIR over alleged property usurpation

Ghaziabad police have registered an FIR against 18 executives of Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IHFL) and M3M over a complaint filed by the Shipra group. The complaint alleges that Indiabulls Housing usurped its properties, including the Shipra Mall in Indirapuram, despite having a loan agreement with them.

According to the Shipra group’s complaint, in December 2017, it had signed a loan agreement with Indiabulls Housing for a loan of Rs 1,939 crore at an interest rate cheaper than the market rate to complete four residential and commercial projects in Noida and Ghaziabad. It claimed that Indiabulls Housing had a condition that Shipra would have to mortgage six of its properties, including the Shipra Mall, which they say is worth Rs 6,000 crore. Shares of some group companies of Shipra were also pledged to Indiabulls as a security cover, according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges that Indiabulls disbursed Rs 1,256 crore but took back Rs 389 crore as “pre-interest”. It also alleges the use of forged documents to bloat the loan amount to Rs 1,686 crore.

Shipra claims that in 2021, Indiabulls Housing demanded that Shipra return Rs 1,738 crore within seven days or the company would acquire its property in Noida Sector 128 forcefully. At that time, both companies came up with a solution to sell 73 acres of land in Sector 128, which was mortgaged to Indiabulls by Shipra. DLF agreed to pay Rs 1,250 crore, but Indiabulls allegedly sold the pledged shares to M3M group company Final Step Pvt Ltd for Rs 900 crore, without Shipra’s consent.

When police did not register a case, Shipra moved the Ghaziabad court, which ordered the police to lodge an FIR and investigate. The FIR has been filed under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Indiabulls Housing has denied the allegations, claiming that it had disbursed Rs 1,995 crore to Shipra between 2017 and 2020. IHFL alleges that Shipra committed defaults in loan agreements, and loan recall notices were issued demanding repayment. However, the same was never paid, and the accounts of Shipra became non-performing assets. Legal proceedings were initiated by IHFL for recovery of the outstanding amounts, and shares pledged by Kadam Developers Pvt Ltd were invoked by IHFL.

The Delhi high court held that there was a default by the Shipra Group, and IHFL was entitled to invoke the securities on the occurrence of the event of default. Indiabulls sold shares of Kadam to Creative Souls Pvt. Ltd., and even after the sale of shares, there was a shortfall in the amounts to be recovered. Therefore, IHFL was constrained to take steps for the sale of Shipra Mall, which was mortgaged to secure repayment of the loan, the Indiabulls Housing spokesperson said.

The spokesperson further added that Indiabulls had acted in full compliance with the law and would cooperate with the authorities in the investigation. The company also stated that it had always maintained the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics, and that the allegations made by Shipra were false and malicious.

M3M also denied any wrongdoing, stating that it was not involved in the loan agreement between Indiabulls and Shipra and had no knowledge of any alleged wrongdoing. The company stated that it had purchased the shares of Kadam Developers Pvt Ltd from Indiabulls as a part of its regular business operations.

The investigation is ongoing, and further details are yet to emerge. The case highlights the importance of due diligence and compliance with legal requirements in loan agreements and property transactions.

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