Court summons Sahara officials on housing complaint

Complainant has history of dispute

A Delhi Court on Monday sought the appearance of Subrata Roy,the chairman of Sahara India Group,and five other officials before it for confronting the allegations of cheating and forgery in a housing project launched by the company. The complaint,incidentally,has been filed by the brother of a Delhi District Court sitting magistrate.

The court has issued bailable warrants against Roy and others,seeking their presence before it on February 9.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav took cognizance of the complaint filed by Neeraj Pandey,who alleged that the company had fraudulently not started the housing project despite taking a payment of Rs 1 lakh each from about 25,000 people from NCR in 2003. He also alleged that Sahara officials resorted to all possible measures to thwart this litigation,firstly by intimidating him and secondly by sending him the cheques of amount without him having asked for it.

Disputing the averments,an official release from Sahara disclosed a history of acrimonious relationship between Pandey,whose brother is functioning as an ACMM in the Tis Hazari court. There is also an FIR lodged by Sahara against Pandey and is pending court adjudication in Noida.

According to the Sahara release,the parties also sat for an arbitration proceeding before the Delhi High Court in 2009 whereby the court disposed of the matter after noting that no disputes survived between the parties.