The Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) is yet to reply to the allegations made by a few investors regarding forceful conversion of SIRECL bonds into Sahara Q-Shop bonds.
Subroto Roy’s SIRECL, one of the two Sahara India firms that have been ordered by the Supreme Court to refund money to its investors, has been accused of forcefully converting SIRECL bonds into Sahara Q-Shop bonds.
Taking cognisance of the complaint, on 21 December 2012 the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had directed the company to reply with all the necessary documents within 10 days.
The Registrar of Companies (ROC), Kanpur, had asked the company to furnish “your parawise clarification/explanation to the allegations raised by the complainants along with documentary evidence within ten days”.
The ROC in its letter also warned the company of “necessary penal action under relevant provisions of the Companies Act”, if the firm failed to adhere to the orders.
According to Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, who is one of the three complainants, Sahara has been forcefully converting investors’ bonds, into Sahara Q-Shop bonds.
“One of the investors, Ashish Verma, who is also a complainant, had invested a total sum of Rs 2,32,000 in four Adobe bonds of Rs 58,000 each, which he had bought on 26 February 2011. However, he was later told by company officials that his bonds had been converted into Sahara Q-Shop bonds,” Amitabh Thakur told this newspaper.
Thakur also alleged, “Sahara India preferred this circuitous and roundabout way to raise and collect public money in the garb of getting advance from the customers for buying a complete range of goods of this company chosen from their brochures.”
In his complaint to the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Thakur has said that the company was “orally saying and assuring a return of Rs 2,335 on every investment, bond or purchase of Rs 1,000 bond, coupon or customer copy while saying in the General Terms and Conditions of its customer copy, ‘Global Advance of minimum of
Rs 10,900 for buying complete range of goods but there will be no interest ever on advance amount’ and thus trying to bypass the authority of various regulatory authorities, including SEBI, the RBI, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and whosoever else is concerned.”
Thakur told this newspaper that since the company did not adhere to the MCA’s instructions, the complainants will now be initiating further actions against the firm.
Sahara India did not offer any comment, at the time when the newspaper went to press.