DNA Investigation Part 2: Supertech coincidences in Anand Kumar empire

The spiralling fortunes of Diksha Windsor Computers, a company owned by Mayawati's brother Anand Kumar which had no income from any business, paralleled its suspicious financial dealings with realty major Supertech. Part two of a three-part investigation

In 2010-11, a year before the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was voted out in Uttar Pradesh, then chief minister Mayawati's brother Anand Kumar became involved in financial dealings with controversial real estate major Supertech despite having no mutual business interests.

In 2011, the Supreme Court cancelled land allocated by the Mayawati government to several builders. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this had been Supertech, which was allotted close to 700,000 square metres of land in Greater Noida, reveal investigations by DNA. Reports at the time suggest that Supertech and others had been given land at almost the bid price set by the Mayawati government. These were then sold off at huge premiums to buyers. This nexus allowed builders to make huge profits while the state lost out on revenue owing to the low bids.

A close scrutiny of documents by DNA unravels the link between Kumar and Supertech, which was pulled up by the Supreme Court this month for not refunding buyers who had invested in its disputed buildings in Noida. Diksha Windsor Computers Pvt Ltd, one of the companies owned by Kumar, gave an 'advance' of Rs.11 crore in 2010-11 to Supertech. However, the next year, the money simply vanished from Diksha Windsor's books.

Were these kickbacks paid by Supertech to Mayawati's brother being legitimised through fraud accounting entries?

A hint to this lies in a letter dated July 18, 2013 from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to Diksha Windsor. This letter was in continuation to another letter sent in February that year. The letter accused Anand Kumar's company of several contraventions of prudent accounting practices. These included not disclosing the list of investments purchased and sold by the company, non-disclosure of transactions done by the company with its own sister concerns (termed related party transactions in accounting parlance) and expenditure/ revenue mismatches.

What further muddies the pitch is the fact that the 'advance' was given to Supertech in 2010-11, the year Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata bought stakes in Diksha Windsor. With the couple buying stakes, the value of the company jumped to Rs.29 crore from just Rs.3 crore in 2009-10.

In 2011-12, when the 'advance' given to Supertech mysteriously disappeared from Diksha Windsor's books, the value of the company balance sheet grew to Rs.74 crore.

Diksha Windsor was a company which had no income from any business operation and yet crores of rupees were funnelled through it in space of just three years. This coincided with the suspect transactions with Supertech.

Not just Supertech

Supertech is not the only name that appears. A company called Today Homes Pvt Ltd is also shown as being advanced money during the same period as Supertech. In both cases, the advances simply disappeared from the books, while the net value of Diksha Windsor continued to rise despite no business activity, sources told DNA.

Were the transactions in Diksha Windsor an indication of the massive profits made by builders being ploughed back to Mayawati's brother?

While investigators look for conclusive answers, DNA sent a comprehensive questionnaire to Supertech on its transactions with Kumar. Despite repeated requests, the realty giant did not issue a response. Kumar, too, refused to acknowledge DNA's queries.