Orbit Corporation Chief Pujit Aggarwal Remanded To Judicial Custody 

Pujit Agarwal, promoter and managing director of the beleaguered luxury property development company Orbit Corporation, was remanded to judicial custody till October 3 by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court in Mumbai.

Aggarwal has been in police custody since September 8 when he was arrested by the Mumbai Police on the basis of a complaint filed by non-banking financial company Capri Global Ltd.

Seeking an extension of Aggarwal's custody, police told the court on Tuesday that Rs 77 lakh, four laptops, and two hard disks had been seized, which required further investigation.

Amit Desai, appearing for Aggarwal, argued that this was just a ploy to add legitimacy to the extension of remand. Now that the material had been seized, it was for the police to investigate further and that his client's presence was no longer required, Desai added.

He said his client had hardly been questioned while in police custody, and that the police had already sought his remand successfully on three prior occasions when there was no need for his presence.

The court did not grant an extension of police custody but remanded him to judicial custody instead.

The next date of hearing is scheduled for October 3 when Aggarwal's judicial custody expires.

Aggarwal was arrested on Thursday, September 7, and remanded to police custody on September 8. The court has extended his custody twice, once on September 12 and again on September 16.

Aggarwal was arrested by the Azad Maidan police under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Non-banking finance company Capri Global Capital Ltd., the complainant, had paid Rs 2.53 crore for three flats at Orbit Residency Park in Sakinaka, a project launched by Aggarwal and his father Ravikiran Aggarwal. The Aggarwals had mortgaged the project with LIC Housing Finance Ltd. for a loan and were supposed to deposit sale proceeds of all the flats in an escrow account with HDFC Bank. However the money was not deposited in the escrow account, and when LIC Housing Finance took over the possession as Aggarwals defaulted on loan repayment, the finance company did not recognise the claims of Capri Global Capital on the flats in the project, the complaint said.