Court issues bailable warrant against cricketer Gautam Gambhir

A Delhi court Wednesday issued bailable warrants against retired cricketer Gautam Gambhir for not appearing before it despite repeated summons in a case related to alleged cheating of flat buyers in a real estate project.

In a complaint, 17 flat buyers alleged that they had paid around Rs 1.98 crore for booking flats in an upcoming project at Ghaziabad's Indirapuram area in 2011 but the housing project did not take off.

Gambhir was a director and brand ambassador in a joint project of Rudra Buildwell Reality Pvt Ltd and H R Infracity Pvt Ltd, against which a case was lodged in 2016 for allegedly duping people of Rs 1.98 crore on the pretext of booking apartments in the housing project.

"Considering the fact that accused Gautam Gambhir has not been appearing in this case repeatedly and he has not appeared even despite dismissal of his exemption application on last date of hearing, therefore, issue bailable warrant for Rs 10,000 against the accused with one surety in the like amount for next date of hearing," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana said.

The court has put up the matter for further hearing on January 24.

The complainants had alleged that "the project was extensively promoted and advertised and Gambhir, as the brand ambassador, helped in attracting and inviting buyers to invest in the project".