Three firms that bought land from Vadra have records riddled with holes

The Indian Express, 11 December, 2014

Addresses that are either inaccurate or don’t exist, shareholders who cannot be traced or are clueless about the companies, a mismatch between what’s on paper and what’s on the ground — such discrepancies mark the land transactions between Robert Vadra’s firms and three of the four companies that bought nearly 200 hectares from him.
These three firms are all linked to Faridabad-based manufacturer of medical disposables Poly Medicure Ltd which is linked to the family of Congress leader and former Rajasthan Finance Minister, the late Chandan Mal Baid.
According to records, the three companies, Allegeny Finlease, Sachchiya Enterprises and VCB Trading, own 14.1%, 3.5% and 4%, respectively, in Poly Medicure. These companies, as first reported in The Indian Express on November 27, paid three to seven times the price at which Vadra companies were buying land in the same areas at around the same time.
Allegeny bought 69.5 hectares, Sachchiya 17.6 hectares and VCB Trading 53.8 hectares from the three Vadra companies Sky Light Hospitality, Sky Light Realty and Blue Breeze Trading in Bikaner’s Kolayat tehsil. The remaining land was bought by Mumbai-based PR Fonroche, a joint venture between PR Clean Energy and French Fonroche Energy.
Himanshu Baid is managing director and his father Jugal Kishore Baid is non-executive director of Poly Medicure. Jugal Kishore is the brother of the late Chandan Mal Baid. Himanshu Baid’s brother Vishal is president (sales & marketing) at Poly Medicure. While Vishal Baid owns VCB Trading with wife Shaily (65.45%, 34.55%), Allegeny and Sachchiya have 41 and 12 shareholders respectively.
The Indian Express found that none of the three companies exists at their registered addresses as mentioned in the Registrar of Companies (RoC) records. Consider the following:
Allegeny Finlease: One Risal Khan of Asaoti village, Faridabad, is one of the two directors of the company and signed the land deals with Vadra’s companies for Allegeny. When The Indian Express visited Khan’s house, he was away at work. His family and neighbours said he worked for Poly Medicure as manager.
At the Chittaranjan Park address of Allegeny in south Delhi is an office of Faridabad-based accountancy firm VRSK & Associates. VRSK partner Vineet Gupta directed queries to one Arvind (Gupta could not recall his last name) who he claimed dealt with the firm on behalf of Allegeny. He turned out to be the same Arvind named by Faridabad’s Narender Mittal & Co — auditors of VCB Trading — as the company’s point person  Arvind’s number went ‘out of service’ soon after he promised to get back with details of the company.
VCB Trading: Its Vasundhara Enclave address in Delhi till August 14, 2013 as per RoC records turned out to be the residence of one Sujit (he refused to share his last name), a marketing executive at Poly Medicure. He claimed he knew nothing about VCB Trading.
VCB Trading’s Jaipur address – B-64, Bais Godam – was traced to the office of Polycure Martech Limited which has three Baids – Vishal, Himanshu and Jugal Kishore – as directors.
One Kulvansh Singh of 58, Jagdamba Colony, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, signed the land deals on behalf of VCB Trading. A visit to this address showed that Plot 58 is divided into three segments, two of which are vacant. The third has residents who said they have lived there for 10 years and don’t know any Kulvansh Singh.
Sachchiya Enterprises: There is no second floor in A-19, Industrial Estate at Bais Godam in Jaipur where it claims to have its office as per RoC records. Kamal Dugar, who owns 2.82% in Sachchiya and signed the Bikaner land deals for the company, could not be traced at either his 4, Gayatri Nagar or Plot No 13, Devi Nagar Extension, Road No 8 address in Jaipur.
There are more discrepancies when it comes to shareholder details in these three firms. The Indian Express investigated the addresses of six of the 12 shareholders in Sachchiya and 18 of the 41 shareholders of Allegeny.
Consider these:
* Four members of one Chowdhry family, owner of Al Karma Aluminium Private Limited, in Delhi’s Kirti Nagar, own stakes in Allegeny. “My brother Sachin, sister-in-law Bhawna and their two children (the four shareholders named in RoC records) are settled in the US since 1999. They rarely visit India. I have checked with my brother who has known Himanshu Baid for many years but he is not aware of this (Allegeny) company or their shareholding in it. Sachin is travelling now and will take this up with Baid,” said Sandeep Chowdhry, director, Al Karma Aluminium.
* Jaipur’s Soni family (Indra, Aarti, Subhash and Sheetal) owns 11.27% and 6.5% shares in Sachchiya and Finlease, respectively. But no Sonis were found at 9/107, Malviya Nagar, that they claimed as their Jaipur address.
* Lokesh Jain of 480, Kishanpole, Jaipur, also owns shares in both companies. This address was not traceable. While one shareholder, Ajit Singh Bhatia, of Allegeny listed a Manipur pin code (795004), another provided Udaipur’s code (313001) with their Jaipur addresses.
* Anju Agarwal and Shatrughan Sharma hold 21.12% of Sachchiya. Their common address — 22A, Nandpuri — could not be traced. Kamal Jeet Singh Sandhu, resident of 22, Nandpuri, was clueless about Agarwal and Sharma.
* Geeta Devi Agarwal of 34, Gayatri Nagar, Jaipur, owns 5.63% in Sachchiya. The Indian Express found one Geeta Devi at the address but her father’s/husband’s name (B S Agarwal) did not match with RoC records. Geeta Devi said she did not buy any land in Bikaner.
* Allegeny shareholders Bhabhi Bharti Joshi and Bikram Chand Purohit are listed at M15, New Market, Jaipur. Another stakeholder Manoj Purohit’s address is recorded as G37, New Market, Jaipur. There is no New Market in the city. All three addresses have Udaipur PIN (313001).
* Allegeny shareholder Bhagwan Sahai’s address is recorded as 17A, Suraj Vihar, Hawa Sadak. There is Suraj Nagar East and West but no Suraj Vihar in this Jaipur area.
*Two Kolkata companies Jai Tara Movie Private Limited and Arpan Agro Private Limited, own 8% and 6% shares, respectively, in Allegeny and both are recorded at S69, Raiser Plaza, Jaipur. The shop was closed and the board read B C Purohit and Co (Tax Consultant).
The phone number painted on the board was unavailable. Shiv Kumar Purohit, director of Jai Tara Movie, also owns shares in Allegeny. His address is G1/109 Kamal Apartment, Bani Park, Jaipur. Of the five Kamal apartments in Bani Park, only one has G1 but this has no flat no 109. The only Purohit here is one Kailash Purohit of Flat no 103. The security staff said he was from Kolkata and visited once in a while.
* Allegeny shareholder Dimpal Ravinder Singh’s address is recorded as House No 67, Sector 9, Faridabad. The house is owned by one Gupta who the tenants claimed is long settled in Mumbai. Neither the tenants who are staying here for over six years nor the neighbours could recall any Dimpal Ravinder Singh.

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