The Allahabad high court has transferred the probe into an alleged ₹6.33 crore real estate fraud case involving former MLC Haji Iqbal alias Bala from the UP Special Task Force to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
Event Context
In its July 16 order, the bench comprising Justice Chandra Dhari Singh and Justice Lakshmi Kant Shukla held that once a large-scale corporate fraud is already under investigation by the SFIO, a parallel investigation by the state police into substantially the same corporate network should ordinarily be avoided.
While refusing to quash the FIR lodged by an investor, the court disposed of the writ petition filed by Haji Iqbal and directed that the investigation against the petitioner be transferred to the SFIO to ensure a single, specialised and comprehensive probe, thereby preventing conflicting investigations and preserving the integrity of the criminal process.
The court noted that the SFIO had already investigated a broader fraud involving Iqbal and a network of shell companies and that the present FIR and the company named therein form part of the same network.
The court further said if the STF were permitted to continue with a parallel investigation into the same corporate network that is already being probed by the SFIO and is now before a special court in Delhi, it would fragment what is, in substance, a single and indivisible scheme of fraud.
However, no construction activity was undertaken on the plot thereafter. The company also failed to keep up with instalment payments due to the Greater Noida Authority. Consequently, in August 2022, the Authority cancelled the allotment of the said plot, citing outstanding dues of around ₹29 crore, against which only around ₹4.5 crore had been paid.
Meanwhile, a petition was filed before the Supreme Court in 2015, raising concerns about alleged financial irregularities and shell company operations linked to the petitioner.
The apex court directed the ministry of corporate affairs to sanction an SFIO investigation into the affairs related to the petitioner. Upon completing its investigation, the SFIO filed a complaint before the special judge, Dwarka court, New Delhi. The SFIO complaint arrayed Haji Iqbal as first accused and identified him as the alleged mastermind of the group’s operations.
Player Focus
One Naved Ahmad had filed a complaint in 2023, alleging that between December 2013 and March 2014, he transferred ₹6.33 crore to M/S Enchant Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. for the development of a real estate plot in Greater Noida.
