Guru Swarup Srivastava's case deferred till Nov 30

Mumbai, Oct 17 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today deferred till November 30 the case pertaining to steel tycoon Guru Swarup Srivastava, who had entrusted artist M F Hussain with creation of 100 paintings for Rs 100 crore, defaulting in repaying a loan from the National Agricultural Marketing Federation of India (NAMFI).

A division bench comprising Justices J N Patel and R S Dalvi was told that Srivastava Group of Industries (SGI) had taken a loan of Rs 123 crore from NAMFI in 2004, out of which it still owed Rs 103.31 crore.

The SGI had deposited Hussain's 25 paintings as security apart from mortgage on their assets.

Srivastava, on his part, had alleged that NAMFI Chairman Ajit Kumar had assualted him during a meeting in a hotel on December 16 last year. He had lodged a police complaint against Kumar three days later.

Petitioner's lawyer Uday Warunjikar contended that instead of taking action against Kumar, the police had put up a notice outside the SGI office that disallowed workers from entering the premises.

The High Court had, earlier, stayed the notice while observing that it was beyond the powers of the police officer to act as such.

Kumar had, on September 21, sought a CBI probe into the alleged assault on Srivastava and also regarding the recovery of the loan.

Advocate Warunjikar, however, contended that there was no need for CBI involvement as the police was already investigating the matter and a civil suit was pending in court for the recovery.

The CBI will file its reply in the next hearing on November 30 UNI ARM MAZ PKS BST2200