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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 788 OF 2021

Navnath Dattatray Lokhande

..Appellant.

Versus

Balasaheb Bhapkar & Ors.

..Respondents

__________

Mr. R. S. Bade for Appellant.

Mr. Y. M. Nakhwa, APP for State/Respondent No.4.

Mr. V. M. Rathod i/b. Ms. Sabina Ansari for Respondent No.5.

Ms. Lalita Savekar i/b. Kulkarni & Associates for Respondent Nos.1

to 3.

__________

CORAM : S. S. SHINDE AND

SARANG V. KOTWAL, JJ.

DATE : 8^th APRIL 2022.

PC :

1.

This is an Appeal U/s. 11 of The Maharashtra Protection

of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act, 1999

(for short ‘ MPID Act’

). The Appellant has challenged the order

dated 20/08/2021 passed by the designated court under the MPID

Act, City Civil & Sessions Court, Mumbai, in Miscellaneous

Application No.51 of 2021 in MPID Special Case No.7 of 2016 in

C.R.No.83 of 2015. The Respondent Nos.1, 2 and 3 are the original

accused. The Appellant is interested in purchasing one of the

Gokhale

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properties of the accused which was attached under the provisions

of MPID Act. By the impugned order the learned Special Judge

rejected the appellant’

s application for permission to purchase the

said property for Rs.1,21,00,000/-. The amount deposited by the

applicant was directed to be returned to him by the Registry of the

Sessions Court.

2.

The brief background of this Appeal as mentioned in the

police report filed before the MPID Court in the proceedings

preferred by the present applicant are as follows:

The representative authorized by the Securities and

Exchange Board of India (for short ‘

SEBI’

) had lodged an F.I.R.

with the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai against M/s. Sai

Prasad Food Ltd. and other associate companies and their Directors

for cheating about 39 lakhs investors to the tune of Rs.4700 crores.

The accused were arrested. Three notifications were issued U/s.4

of the MPID Act on 23/03/2016, 28/06/2016 and 31/03/2017. In

the first two notifications, properties of the accused were attached

and the attachment was made absolute vide third notification.

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The subject matter of this Appeal is the property at third floor,

Trade Tower, Plot No.59, Gut No.215/1, 215/2, 218, 219, 277/1

and 277/2, Pune-Solapur road, opposite Akashwani and Tekawade

petrol pump, Hadapsar, Pune. (for short ‘

said property’). The

appellant had showed his willingness to purchase that property for

Rs.1,21,00,000/-. By previous orders her was permitted to deposit

Rs.60,50,000/- with the Registry of the Sessions Court. However,

by the impugned order the application for permission to purchase

the property was rejected and his amount was directed to be

refunded back to him as mentioned earlier.

3.

Before the Appellant, one Ghanshyam Zanwar had

showed his interest in purchasing the said property for

Rs.1,20,00,000/-. However, he had not deposited the complete

EMD amount. The Special Judge under MPID Act vide his order

dated 09/07/2019 directed the SEBI to accept the bid of said

Ghanshyam Zanwar. In the meantime, the accused also brought

two prospective buyers to purchase the said property for

Rs.1,40,00,000/-. But neither Ghanshyam Zanwar nor those

buyers brought by the accused could purchase the said property.

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Therefore, the Special Judge passed an order on 07/08/2019 in

M.A.No.1120 of 2019 in the said case and directed the SEBI to

conduct fresh e-auction of the property within two weeks from the

date of order by issuing e-auction notice.

4.

The case of the appellant is that the SEBI had tried to

auction the property for 5 times in the past i.e. on 04/09/2017,

20/04/2018, 14/06/2018, 17/01/2019 and 22/11/2019 for the

reserved price ranging from Rs.1,17,00,392 to Rs.1,71,00,000/-,

but the auction was not successful. The applicant preferred

M.A.No.51 of 2021 in the said case showing his willingness to

purchase the said property for Rs.