HC directs to include Praful's name in UTI scam

Mumbai, Aug 16: The Bombay High Court today directed a lower court to include the names of Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and two others as the ''accused'' in the Rs 50-crore Unit Trust of India (UTI) scam, if any evidence was found against them.

A division bench comprising Justices R M Lodha and S A Bobde directed the lower court to re-process and re-consider the entire issue and adjourned the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard till September 20.

The PIL, filed by Dr M Furkan, alleged that Mr Patel, who was the then Chairman of Autorider Finance Ltd (AFL), and its directors T N Iyer and Surinder Ruia duped UTI by way of not returning the loans sought to purchase vehicles. The PIL also claimed that Mr Patel's company, which provided vehicles on hire between 1993 and 1995, approached UTI asking it to invest in AFL debentures aggregating to Rs 50 crores. The amount was to be used by AFL to purchase vehicles and to be mortgaged to UTI, according to the deal.

Petitioner's lawyer K T Thomas told the court that according to the private complaint filed by UTI in the lower court, the company, despite reminders, neither repaid the loan amount nor furnished the details of vehicles purchased.

He told the court that Mr Patel and others had allegedly diverted the funds and purchased immovable property at Juhu and other places, instead of the vehicles.

Following the alleged misappropriation of funds by Mr Patel and others, UTI had filed a criminal complaint in a Metropolitan Court here, when the court was in action. However, after two-three hearings, UTI approached the lower court requesting to delete the names of alleged accused, without justifying the reasons. Mr Patel, while using his political power, had allegedly pressurised UTI to delete his name from the list of the accused, Mr Thomas added.

The petitioner prayed the court to initiate a CBI inquiry into the entire scam and to direct the lower court to include the names of Mr Patel and others in the case.

UNI