New Delhi: A Delhi court recently set aside an order passed by a magistrate's court to discharge Indian cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir in a cheating case.
The court of special judge Vishal Gogne in its Oct 29 order stated that the discharge order passed by the magistrate's court reflected an inadequate expression of mind in deciding the allegations against Gambhir, who was an MP.
The court stated that the allegations against Gambhir merit further investigation as he was the only one "who in fact did have any direct interface with the investors, in his capacity as brand ambassador."
The case was filed by homebuyers against three real estate companies — Rudra Buildwell Realty, HR Infracity, and UM Architectures and Contractors — over their failure to deliver flats in a housing project.
These three companies jointly promoted and advertised a housing project called Serra Bella in 2011. Gambhir, besides being an additional director of one of the companies, was also a brand ambassador for the project.
The court was hearing three revision petitions against the order passed by the additional chief metropolitan magistrate's court on Dec 10, 2020.
The case began when the homebuyers found no progress in the construction of flats despite booking the apartments and paying the money. The project was not approved, and Allahabad High Court in 2014 stayed any business transaction or other activity on the land.
This led to the registration of a cheating case against the accused. However, the trial court in 2020 found a prima facie case only against three persons and two companies — Rudra Buildwell Realty and HR Infracity. It discharged five other accused, including Gambhir.
Following this, the homebuyers filed a revision petition. The special judge found that the trial court failed to discuss the specific evidence available in the chargesheet against the five accused persons who were discharged.