NEW DELHI: Allahabad high court on Friday quashed the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) & the two subsumed FIRs, being the predicate offense, filed against M3M India.
“The FIRs in Case Crime No. 427 of 2023, Case Crime No. 197 of 2023 as well as the proceedings initiated by ED pursuant thereto registered as ECIR/HIU-I/06/2023 are quashed,” said the court.
In a media release M3M India said, “The quashing of the FIRs and ECIR provides significant relief to M3M India, safeguarding its reputation and allowing the company to focus on its ongoing business operations. This ruling reaffirms our commitment to ethical business practices and reinforces our trust in the judiciary. We remain focused on delivering value to our stakeholders and contributing to India’s real estate sector with integrity.”
“We have no hesitation in holding that initiation of criminal proceedings at the instance of borrower are
instituted on the strength of suppression and concealment of relevant facts, with unexplained delay and malicious intent to thwart legitimate steps taken by Indiabulls to recover the financial assistance extended to the borrower. Such proceedings are also intended to create leverage in ongoing civil/arbitration proceedings inter se between the parties. The criminal proceedings are, therefore, clearly an abuse of the process of law and deserve to be quashed,” the court said.
HC however clarified that any observation made in this judgement will not influence the ongoing inter-se
proceedings between the parties before the arbitrator or pending before this court. All contentions of the parties in respect of the issues pending before the competent forums are also left open for its adjudication in accordance with law.
For the reasons recorded above, the writ petitions succeed and are allowed.
The two FIRs claimed that the transactions between M3M India, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and other stakeholders had caused financial harm and involved undervaluation of property assets. Based on these FIRs, the enforcement directorate (ED) initiated an ECIR, adding to the legal challenges faced by M3M India.
Source Homevior.in
