The man who sold 3.5-acre Manesar land to Robert Vadra

Onkareshwar Properties, which sold 3.5 acres in Shikopur, near Manesar, to Sky Light Hospitality in February-March 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore, marking Robert Vadra’s entry into real estate business, is owned by two individuals — Satyanand Yajee and Godavari Yajee.

Onkareshwar helped Sky Light by agreeing to transfer the land, accepting a cheque drawn on Corporation Bank. This cheque had not been presented for payment as on March 31, 2008, and was reflected as a book overdraft in Sky Light Hospitality’s books.

Onkareshwar’s balance sheet as on March 31, 2008, showed an entry of Rs 7.95 crore under ‘sundry debtors’. This corresponds to the entry of Rs 7.944 crore book overdraft entered in Sky Light’s books. The land price was Rs 7.5 crore, and the balance Rs 45 lakh could have been registration and stamp duty costs. It appears Onkareshwar happily footed even these costs.
 

“The land was bought at Rs 7.5 crore in February 2008 according to newspaper reports and the sale deed. All permissions were received in March 2008. The figures in both balance sheets were Rs 7.95 crore. The difference must be on account of stamp duty and licence fee, etc. Rate of stamp duty is six per cent in rural areas and eight per cent in urban areas. Taking Manesar as rural, six per cent duty would amount to Rs 45 lakh, taking the total cost to Rs 7.95 crore,” explained a senior accounting expert familiar with such land deals.

Emails sent on Wednesday night to Onkareshwar’s official email id (according to official filings) and Vadra’s private secretary, Manoj Arora, seeking their comments, did not elicit any response.

The latest filings mention Satyanand owns 245,000 shares, or 98 per cent. Of this, 240,000 were allotted by the firm on March 25, 2008. He had entered the firm a month earlier on February 18, 2008, being appointed an independent director. It was around the same time the registration process for the Manesar land had also begun, documents showed. The remaining two per cent stake (5,000 shares), is owned by Godavari Yajee.

Satyanand Yajee, who lives in Freedom Fighters Colony in South Delhi’s Neb Sarai, is listed as the general secretary of the freedom fighters’ body on its website. He was born on January 9, 1956 — close to nine years after India became free from British rule.