7,000 crore market loss brings IndiaBulls to Supreme Court

Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) today moved the Supreme Court for urgent listing of a plea filed by one of its shareholders alleging misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs. 98,000 crore..Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, arguing for Indiabulls, told the Supreme Court that the petition filed by one Abhay Yadav makes frivolous allegations against the company and was used as a tool to blackmail it through the judicial process..The petition, Singhvi claimed, was leaked to the media and the subsequent reportage of the same led to the company suffering losses of nearly Rs. 7,000 crore in the markets. Singhvi thus claimed that the case be listed urgently and heard tomorrow to give Indiabulls an opportunity to demonstrate to the Court how the petition is nothing but an attempt to blackmail it..The petition states that IHFL Chairman Sameer Gehlaut, along with other Directors of the company, siphoned off around Rs. 98,000 crore for their personal use. It was also claimed that Gehlaut, along with an NRI based in Spain, created shell companies to which loans were disbursed by IHFL on bogus pretexts. Gehlaut also received kickbacks and misled the regulating authorities, the petition states..When the matter was listed for urgent hearing today before the Vacation Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi, Singhvi submitted that the petitioner claims to be a milk vendor who purchased a few shares in the company a few weeks back..The Bench told Singhvi that a decision on urgent listing of the case would be taken at 2 PM after the Court consults with the Registry on the same. However, when the Bench reassembled post lunch, it pointed out that the petition was still in the stage of curing defects..The Court also pulled up the petitioner, saying that while some prayers were for directions to IHFL, the company was not made a party in the case..The Court thus concluded that the matter will be listed not before July, after the defects in the petition will also stand cured..Read the Order:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.