Hotel disinvestment: CBI registers case against Baijal

CBI has registered a case of alleged cheating against former bureaucrat Pradeep Baijal and Bharat Hotels owned by Jyotsna Suri in connection with disinvestment of Laxmi Vilas Palace hotel during NDA rule in 2002.
It is alleged that five-star Laxmi Vilas Palace ITDC hotel spread on 29 acres of prime property in Udaipur worth Rs 151 crore was sold to a Bharat Hotels at an undervalued price of Rs 7.5 crore in 2002.
Those named in the FIR include Baijal, who was then Secretary Disinvestment, Ashish Guha, the then Managing Director of Lazard India, Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey, owner of Kanti Karamsey and company and authorised representative of Bharat Hotel which owns Hotel Lalit.

"It was alleged that during the period 2001-02, Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel, Udaipur, a heritage hotel and one of the units of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), Department of Tourism...With 54 rooms with all accessories was first drastically undervalued and then sold/disinvested to a private hotel situated at Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, at a price of Rs 7.52 crore," CBI spokesperson said here today.
She said as per the then DLC rates of land in which the hotel was situated was allegedly Rs 151 crores (approx) and in this way, a loss of Rs 143.48 crores (approx) was caused to the ITDC.

The agency has also mentioned unnamed government officers and private persons in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating besides under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The five-star property in Udaipur was sold for Rs 7.52 crore in 2002 against a reserve price of Rs 6.12 crore in 2002.
The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment had in its meeting held on February 5, 2002 approved disinvestment of three hotel properties of ITDC--Qutab Hotel and Lodhi Hotel in New Delhi and Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur.
The hotel was incurring losses to the tune of 51 per cent in 2001.