Police lodges FIR against Ansal Group after UP CM Yogi's instructions

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday booked embattled real estate developer Ansal Group for alleged cheating, breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and organised crime, officials said.

The FIR was registered a day after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath instructed officials to take strict action in the matter and safeguard homebuyers' interest.

The CM also invoked the real estate group's name on Tuesday inside the state assembly to slam opposition Samajwadi Party, accusing it of favouring such builders during its regime.

The FIR was lodged at the Gomti Nagar police station in Lucknow on Tuesday evening.

It names as accused Ansal Properties and Infra Limited Promoters, Pranav Ansal, Sushil Ansal, Sunil Kumar Gupta, Francette Patrica Atkinson and Vinay Kumar Singh (Director).

They have been booked under BNS sections 316(5) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4)(cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 336(3)(forgery for cheating), 340(2)(using forged document as genuine), 61(2)(criminal conspiracy), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351(2)(criminal intimidation) and 111 (organised crime), according to a copy of the FIR, seen by PTI.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited (APIL) into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, as of February 25.

The tribunal's decision follows a petition by IL&FS Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) regarding a loan default amounting to Rs 257 crores.

IL&FS Financial Services, acting as the financial creditor, alleged that the listed entity Ansal API failed to repay loans totalling Rs 257 crore. It also claimed that while Ansal API had reached a settlement agreement in 2022, the company did not adhere to its terms.