Bizman fined Rs 5L for trying to take back auctioned land

The Gujarat High Court today imposed a fine of Rs five lakh on a businessman for trying to take back forcibly a piece of his land, auctioned by a bank for non-payment of his loans to it.

While ordering Sanjay Rai, owner of Kandla Energy, to pay the fine, Justice J B Pardiwala also ordered registration of a criminal case against him for allegedly sending goons to the buyer of his land, auctioned by the bank.

The court gave its order on a plea by Rai's land buyer Darshan Patadiya who accused the businessman of sending goons to take possession of a piece of land in Ahmedabad which Patadiya had purchased for Rs 3.71 crore.

The petition, filed through advocate Hardik Rao, said the officers at Satellite police station here refused to register the FIR on several occasions.

While ordering registration of the FIR, the court also ordered the probe into the case by a police officer of the rank of assistant commissioner.

Rai, a Kutch-based industrialist, had taken loans worth Rs 376 crore from six banks in the name of Kandla Energy, but defaulted in repayment.

The banks then initiated process to seize and auction his assets with the SBI, one of the lenders, auctioning Rai's land to Patadiya.

On January 19 this year, some 'security personnel' hired by Rai tried to take back the possession of the land, the petition said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)