The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 23) allowed the CBI to register six more regular cases into the “unholy nexus” between banks and developers to dupe homebuyers in real estate projects in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali and Prayagraj.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh allowed the CBI to proceed as per law after Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the agency, mentioned that it has completed preliminary inquiry in projects of the various builders except Supertech Ltd, falling outside Delhi-NCR in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali and Prayagraj.
The bench noted the submission of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that, after preliminary inquiry, it has found a cognisable offence being made out and allowed the agency to register regular cases and proceed according to law.
Bhati said the agency is willing to register six regular cases for speedy investigation and conduct a search and seizure in the matter.
The top court directed Bhati to share portions of the sealed cover report with the amicus curiae advocate Rajiv Jain.
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The bench on July 22, while allowing the agency to register 22 cases to probe the “unholy nexus” between banks and developers to dupe homebuyers in Delhi-NCR, has granted six weeks to the CBI to complete the preliminary inquiry for projects outside the national capital region (NCR).
The 22 cases pertained to builders operating in NCR and development authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Under the subvention scheme, banks disburse the sanctioned amount directly to the accounts of builders, who are then required to pay EMIs on the sanctioned loan amount until flats are handed over to homebuyers.
After builders started defaulting on EMIs to banks, in line with the tripartite agreement, banks demanded the EMIs from homebuye