Chairman, CA of firm summoned for 'stealing' govt documents
Nearly a decade after some documents of Ministry of Corporate Affairs were found during an IT raid here, a Delhi court has summoned the chairman of a business house and its chartered accountant to face trial on charges of theft and receiving stolen properties.
"On the basis of the charge sheet and the documents attached with the same, I am of the view that there are sufficient grounds to proceed further against both the accused persons namely Satypal Gupta and Pradeep Kumar Dhingra for the alleged offences under sections 380 (theft), 411 (receiving stolen property) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
"Hence, I take cognisance. Let both the accused persons be summoned for November 16," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jindal said.
Gupta, Chairman of Delhi-based Sunair Hotels Ltd and Dhingra, financial controller and chartered accountant of the firm, have been issued charge sheet by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of police in a case in which Income Tax Department had allegedly stumbled upon stolen documents of the MCA during its raids on the premises of Dhingra here in November 2001.
An FIR was lodged against them by Harsh Allagh, an employee of another Delhi-based firm VLS Finance Ltd, on October 24, 2005 that the accused were found in possession of stolen documents during IT raids in November 2001.
The MCA, in another FIR lodged at Connaught Place police station in 2002, said the files, recovered from the house of accused Dhingra, were missing from the office of Department of Company Affairs, now known as Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
An MCA official said the files pertained to complaints of VLS Finance Ltd against Gupta and other promoters of Sunair Hotels Ltd, owners of five-star Metropolitan hotel in the central Delhi, highlighting their "frauds and misdeeds", the charge sheet said.
The EOW, in its charge sheet, said, "There are sufficient evidence on record to prove that by removing/stealing these records from Department of Company Affairs, the accused in criminal conspiracy with each other, made attempt to scuttle legal action against Sunair Hotels Ltd and its promoters/ directors with mala fide intention.
"Financial controller of Sunair Hotels Ltd, Dhingra, allegedly told IT sleuths that the stolen documents were handed over to him by chairman Gupta for safe custody at his residence at Naraina here."
The MCA official, during probe, told police that out of 21, 16 recovered files belonged to the ministry, it said.
The agency said the probe was going on to ascertain that how these files went missing from the ministry and reached to the house of the accused.
It also said that efforts were on to ascertain the complicity of MCA officials, if any, in the case and a supplementary charge sheet would be filed if something new emerges in further probe.
