IN THE COURT MS. I.K. KOCHHAR
Ld. Special Judge : New Delhi
CBI VS HAMIDULLAH BHAT
Closure report no: 15/07
ORDER
Closure report has been filed. The case of the prosecution is that Dr. Hamidullah Bhat while working in HRD Ministry had amassed huge assets both movable and immovable which are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Check period in this case is stated to be between 1997 to 30 September, 2005. It has been alleged that the total income of Dr. Hamidullah Bhat from salary and other allowances during a period from January 1997 to December 2005 was 59, 61,522/-. He had acquired the following immovable assets:
(i) House no.86, block no. V Surajkund, Erose Garden, Faridabad, Haryana three-storey building with basement purchased and constructed during 1999 -- 2001 for Rs.25,00,000/-.
(ii) A Maruti car Wagon R having registration no DL 2 CN 5090 for Rs.3,50,000/-
(iii) purchase of land and construction of building for opening a school Al-Aim, Sr. Sec school at Hyderpura, Airport, Srinagar.
(iv) Purchase of land at Plot no.39, Dyal Bagh Faridabad, Haryana for running Shemrock school for Rs. 8,76, 724/-.
Total assets of the accused were worth Rs.41.76 lakhs in his name or in the name of his family members. It has further alleged that he was having a lavish lifestyle and keeping in view his expenditure and likely savings the DA had been calculated 1394. FIR was accornidngly registered against the accused.
In the closure report it is stated that in the course of investigation it has been revealed that the assets of the accused prior to the check period including one house at Srinagar at D-3, Gulbarg co-operative Society, Peer Bagh, Shrinagar, Flat No. 95/III, Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana (already disposed) and balance in SB 3383 in the name of Mr. & Mrs Bhatt at J& K Bank, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi as on 31.12.96 was of Rs.75, 517/-.
The assets calculated of the accused at the end of check period included the following immovable properties i.e (i) Property number 86 block-V Erose Garden, Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana in the name of wife of the accused namely Mrs. Asmat Ara valued at Rs 4, 50, 000/-- and construction of the same was calculated at Rs. 12, 50, 000/-, (ii) D 2 Noor Nagar, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi in the name of the accused valued at Rs. 8, 63, 500/--.
Total immovable assets were calculated at Rs. 25, 63, 500/- and the movable assets calculated at the end of check period were worth Rs.48,60,811/- which included cash recovered from the house search of accused of Rs.1,14,300/-.
The income details have also been mentioned in the closure report but the rent calculated for the period November 1999 to March 2004 of Rs.5,59,325/- has not been substantiated and no details of the property from where this rent accrued has been made. Similarly a sum of Rs.4,60,000/- has been calculated as the income of the accused i.e. sale proceeds of old house at 3/G –II booked Eros Garden, Faridabad, Haryana but when and from which source of money this house has been purchased has not been investigated. A sum of Rs 10 lakhs has been calculated as the income of the accused being the amount received from Dr. Ishtiyaq Shafie Ahmad brother in law of accused and statement of Dr. Ishtiyaq Shafie Ahmad to the said effect recorded by the IO has been perused wherein it is stated that he has paid a sum of Rs 10 lakhs to his sister Ms. Asmat Ara from his NRI account which was in consideration of her share of the ancestral properties as a final settlement but what was the final settlement and it was in view of which ancestral properties has not been stated and there is also no investigation on the point as to what amounts has been received by other siblings of Dr. Ishtiyaq Shafie. This amount in my view appears to be suspect as the same person i.e brother-in-law of accused had also purchased the house from the wife of the accused i.e 95/III Suraj Kund , Eros garden, Faridabad, Haryana for Rs. 15, 00, 000/- and no details of the said transactions have also been placed on record.
The expenditure chart shows that the accused had several LIC policies and in September, October 2002 itself he had purchased 3 policies where the annual premium was more than 70,000/-
In the closure report it has further been mentioned that accused has formed a Society, i.e. Society for Human Empowerment, of which he was the Chairman and heavy donations had been received from various individuals and organizations for the purpose of Society but there is no evidence that the assets of the society had been converted into the account of the accused and as such the income/expenditure in the said society cannot be attributed to the accused.
I am not in agreement with this course of investigation adopted by the Investigation Officer.
Statement of S.Maitra is relevant in this regard. He has stated that he being the Branch Manager of the Bank of Maharashtra, Dayal Bagh, Faridabad branch has received a proposal from Chairman Dr. M.Hamidullah Bhat of the society for Human Empowerment for a loan, and the party executed the necessary documents and collateral security of the property and personal guarantee of Dr. Bhat and Mrs. Asmat Ara wife of the accused was given. Statement of Shri. Brij Bhushan Sehgal Proprietor of M/s Brij Bhushan Sehgal & Sons, Muzaffarnagar U.P. Decinder Brothers, Muzaffarnagar U.P.& M/S Brothers Muzaffarnagar U.P. is to be effect that he had given Rs.25 lacs loan to this Society from his three proprietorship firms and Rs.5 lacs has since been refunded.
Statement of Nitin Patil Proprietor of M/s Nitin Builders is to the effect that he had given unsecured loan of Rs. 5 lacs to the society for Human Empowerment on 4.06.2003 & loan was subsequently returned on 29.03.2005 i.e. within one and a half years. Smt. Sheeba Fehmi has stated that during her tenure in NCPUL she met Dr. Hamidullah Bhat who had constituted a society for empowerment of minorities and she had attended one such meeting but thereafter she left the society. There have been no investigation on this count as to why such heavy amounts of loan had been extended to the Society for Human Empowerment of whom the Chairman and In-Charge was Dr. Hamidullah Bhat and from which sources of the Society these loans were thereafter returned and refunded within such a short span of time. Modern Float Glass India Pvt Ltd, Modern Enterprises C.V. Jain, Nitin Builders, Modern Timber and Plywood had also given unsecured loans of Rs. 5 lacs each to the society; The statement of witnesses shows that these loans had also been returned by the society within short span of time but the investigation has not been carried out on these lines which could reflect the source of income and money of the society who had returned these amounts within such short periods of time, why such heavy unsecured loans was given in the first instance is also not investigated.
In the closure report there is also no mention or detail given about the source of the income for the acquisition of plot no. 39, Dyal Bagh, Faridabad, Haryana and its constructions for running Shemrock School. Shri. S.K. Rampal who had been directed to conduct investigation on the valuation of this property had evaluated its cost of construction 3,48,04,700/-which had been submitted to SP.
The immovable property i.e House No. 86 Block no. V Erose garden has also been evaluated by S. K. Rampal after inspection and the cost of construction as per this report works out to Rs.25,26,900/- source of money for this construction has not been investigated. In the closure report the valuation done by the private contractor has been given as 12,50,000/- which has been accepted. There is also no investigation carried out of the immoveable property acquired by the accused i.e D-2 Noor Nagar, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, Okhla which was also acquired during the check period and valued at worth Rs.8,63,500/-.
In view of the evidences which has been collected by the prosecution, I am not inclined to accept the closure report which is accordingly rejected.
Further investigation be carried out.
Announced in Open court (Indermeet Kaur Kochhar)
on 29.01.08 SPECIAL JUDGE/CBI/ND
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