[Unitech] Supreme Court orders probe, suspends complicit Tihar Jail officials accused of conniving with Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered immediate suspension and a full-fledged criminal investigation against certain Tihar Jail officials, identified by Delhi police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana in his report for allegedly conniving with ex-Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra (Bhupinder Singh v. Unitech)..The Bench of Justices DY Chadrachud and MR Shah ordered that the "complicit' Tihar jail officials will remain under suspension till the pendency of this proceeding. .The order was passed after Asthana in his September 28 report sought permission for a full-fledged criminal investigation against "the person mentioned and also against the unknown persons who are not mentioned."."We direct that officials of Tihar jail who were prima facie found to be complicit will be suspended for the time being till the pendency of proceedings," the Court said in its order. .Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appearing for the Chandra brothers, urged the Court to provide them access to the forensic audior Grant Thornton report so that the accused can put together a defence and requested the court not to proceed in an ex-parte manner. ."I don't want your lordships to repent later on that you did not take timely action. I am sure the court has nothing personal against the Chandras. I should have been given the Grant Thornton report. I should have been able to show that there is no diversion of funds. In trial, if it is found that there is no diversion of funds, then can the clock be turned backwards and put time back into my hand. Shouldn't the Grant Thornton report be given to me now itself," urged Singh. He also took exception to what he viewed as Court "running companies""How many companies will this court run? Amrapali you are running, Unitech you are running, Supertech you are running. You have arrested my father, my wife, arrest my children also. Put us all behind bars. At least let me defend Grant Thornton report," he argued..The Bench did not take the arguments lightly with a visibly miffed Justice Chandrachud warning Singh not to make "allegations" against the top court. "Before you make allegations against this court, what is this language? What is this repent later on. Listen to me, listen to me... Is this the way of addressing the court?" said Justice Chandrachud. .Justice Shah too weighed in stating that there were reasons why grounds of arrest cannot be divulged to the accused and that the court "did not expect this" from Singh. "Don't say such things and make allegations against this court. We never expected this from Mr Vikas Singh, with all seriousness," he said..The Bench then proceeded to decline the request of Senior Advocate Singh to have a copy of the Grand Thornton report. ."Mr Vikas Singh appearing on behalf of accused submits that report of forensic auditors Grant Thornton be made available to him to enable proper defence. At present from status reports filed it emerges that report by forensic auditors is subject matter of probe by ED. It will not be in accordance of law to provide underlying material which forms subject matter of investigation to accused at this stage," the Court ordered.Unitech promoters, Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra are currently in jail after they were arrested on charges of cheating and duping homebuyers.Chandra was arrested by the Economic Offices Wing of the Delhi police in March 2017.This came pursuant to a First Information Report (FIR) registered against Chandra after a July 2015 order by Patiala house court in Delhi.The FIR was lodged based on a complaint by a homebuyer in relation to the Anthea project in Gurugram. Subsequently, more such complaints were received against the Unitech with respect to Anthea project.The homebuyers had approached the police after flats were not handed over to them within the stipulated deadline despite having paid money to the company.Investigating authorities have maintained that the prima facie probe indicated that money realised from the flat purchasers has been siphoned off.Both the brothers were lodged in Tihar jail but the Court had on August 26 directed that they be taken out of Delhi and lodged separately, Sanjay Chandra in Arthur Road jail and Ajay Chandra in Taloja jail in Maharashtra.This was after Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the Court that two the Unitech promoters were found operating from inside the Tihar jail and were carrying out various transactions from there..[Read Order].[Read live account of hearing]