Mayawati
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Family
Brother’s assets grow to Rs 1,300 crore in nine years
BSP chief Mayawati's brother Anand Kumar began as a businessman with approximately Rs 7cr in cash. In just about nine years, Anand Kumar's assets sky-rocketed to Rs 1,300 crore, the income tax department investigations have so far revealed.
Times Now is in possession of the I-T probe details that disclose the pattern in which the companies floated by Anand Kumar used to make money: sell equity shares of the company at a premium to various holding companies.
Investigations by Times Now showed that several of these companies were registered at dubious addresses with their promoters untraceable. Now, a stunning link between Anand Kumar and two other politicians under investigation has been uncovered.
The company named Hingora Finvest Pvt Ltd holds 3,000 shares or 0.8% of Aakriti Hotels Pvt Ltd, in which Anand Kumar happens to be a key player through 65,000 debentures held by his promoted companies.
Interestingly , Hingora Finvest features as a shareholder in companies linked to jailed NCP politician Chhagan Bhujbal. Hingora Finvest holds 27,000 shares of Pravesh Constructions Ltd -a company floated by Sameer Bhujbal. The registered address of Hingora Finvest is a residential complex in Bhayander in Mumbai. When Times Now reporters visited the address, a lady acknowledged knowing one of the named directors of the company , but didn't know about the company itself.
Two other companies, Bhaskar Fund Management and Delton Exim Pvt Ltd, too, hold equity shares in Aakriti Hotels Pvt Ltd. These companies are registered at an address in Maheshtala, Kolkata.A visit to the location bore no result, with residents saying they had never heard of the company .
Deeper scrutiny exposed that the two firms had come under the scanner for holding large equity shareholding in Jagati Publications -a company owned by YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy . Revelations lead to the conclusion that these politicians were using these shell companies to allegedly round-trip cash and bifurcate the tax system.
Properties owned
2010-23: 261 flats bought at 46% discount, audit flags ‘fraudulent’ sale
Dheeraj Mishra, June 16, 2023: The Indian Express
As many as 261 flats in a Noida apartment complex developed by real estate firm Logix Infratech Private Ltd were allotted to the brother of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and his wife in a manner that was “fraudulent” and involved “deception” and “undervaluation,” official records investigated by The Indian Express have revealed.
Over 12 years, the sequence of events, right from the incorporation of the company to its bankruptcy proceedings and a subsequent forensics audit of May 2023, paints a telling pattern of alleged irregularities.
Consider this sequence, according to official records and reports investigated by The Indian Express:
May 2010: Logix Infratech Private Ltd was incorporated; Mayawati was the Chief Minister having won and taken charge in May 2007.
July 2010: In less than two months, Logix signs agreements with her brother Anand Kumar and his wife Vichiter Lata to sell about 2 lakh sq feet space each in Blossom Greens, its Noida project, at Rs 2,300 per square foot and Rs 2,350 per square foot, respectively. So, the total purchase price for Anand Kumar was Rs 46.02 crore and for Vichiter Lata Rs 46.93 crore.
September 2010: Within three months of these agreements, the Noida Authority, under the UP Government, leased 1,00,112.19 sq meters or 24.74 acres to Logix Infratech to develop 22 towers in Blossom Greens.
September 2010 to 2022-23: Over these years, Logix sold 2,329 units of the total 2,538 residential units in Blossom Greens. So far, the company has offered possession of eight towers comprising 944 flats, of which 848 buyers have taken possession. Although the civil structure of the remaining 14 towers is complete, the towers are not yet ready for possession.
April 4, 2016: Anand Kumar was allotted 135 apartments and Vichiter Lata the balance 126 apartments after they paid an “advance” of Rs 28.24 crore and Rs 28.19 crore, respectively.
February 15, 2020: Logix Infratech received the first notice demanding unpaid dues of Rs 7.72 crore from construction company Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd to whom it had awarded civil and structural works for Blossom Greens worth Rs 259.80 crore.
October 2020: Logix responded citing Covid-19, a ban on construction in NCR towards 2019-end, and non-availability of skilled labour as the key reasons for its inability to pay the dues to Ahluwalia Contracts.
September 29, 2022: NCLT ordered bankruptcy proceedings against Logix setting in motion the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), the recovery mechanism for all to whom Logix Infratech owes money.
As per the insolvency norms, NCLT appointed an Interim Resolution Professional who ordered an audit of Logix’s books. According to the latest draft of this Transaction Audit Report submitted to the IRP in May 2023 and reviewed by The Indian Express, the units sold to both Anand Kumar and Vichiter Lata were “undervalued” and the transactions “fraudulent”.
Recording that the two have made claims amounting to Rs 96.64 crore under the bankruptcy proceedings, the audit flags a series of alleged irregularities.
For one, Anand Kumar was billed at Rs 2,300 per square foot when the average net rate at which units were transferred to other home buyers in the FY 2016-17 is Rs 4,350.85. “Hence the transactions are undervalued under Section 45 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016,” stated the audit report. Also, as many as 36 units allotted to him were already in the possession of other parties. This, according to the audit report suggested “there has been some misrepresentation or deception involved in the allotment process”.
What raises further questions about the transaction, the audit report said, is the fact that vouchers showing Anand Kumar’s payments of Rs 28.24 crore are shown under the head “Advance from Customers” rather than as an investment. “Though there are bank receipts and bank statements showing the receipt of the amount (Rs 27.60 crore), in our analysis, we found that the funds received were transferred to the related parties,” the report said.
Almost similar allegations of irregularities were flagged for Anand Kumar’s wife Vichiter Lata: from undervalued price; 24 of her 125 units being allotted to others, and Rs 28.85 crore of her payment being transferred by Logix to related parties with “no explanation.” “Hence, we are classifying the above transaction of Rs. 28.85 crore as fraudulent,” it said.
The Indian Express mailed a list of questions to both Anand Kumar and Vichiter Lata, and also handed a list of questions to an aide at his residence. He was not available for comment. When contacted, Vikram Nath, Director of Logix Infratech, who remained at the helm till mid-2016, said he could not speak since he was “outside”. A detailed list of questions texted to him did not elicit a response.
Floated in 1997, the Logix Group has several companies under its fold, and claims to have established 4 million square feet of IT spaces. A 2021 CAG report revealed that during 2005-18, Noida Authority allotted 22 per cent of all commercial plots to Logix Group, and the Group’s outstanding dues to the authority as on March 31, 2020, was Rs 5,839.96 crore.
9 Mall Avenue, Lucknow
September 18, 2018: The Times of India
From: September 18, 2018: The Times of India
From: September 18, 2018: The Times of India
Mayawati’s new residence, at 9 Mall Avenue in Lucknow, is a red sandstone structure in line with several parks and memorials that the BSP supremo has commissioned over the years. The over 71,000-sqfoot property will function both as her residence and party office, even though the original BSP office is right next door. She addressed the media from there for the first time on Sunday. The property is marked by wide driveways and green areas. At the entrance is a column with four statues of Mayawati, each facing different directions. Inside the building, the walls are adorned with massive bronze artworks, each depicting a different facet of the Dalit movement
Religion
2017: threat to leave Hinduism renewed
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati warned that like dalit icon BR Ambedkar, she, too, would convert if “iniquitous practices“ against dalits and tribals in Hinduism were not abolished.
Addressing BSP supporters from Azamgarh, Varanasi and Gorakhpur divisions, Mayawati said, “Some reasons compelled Ambedkar to quit as law minister in the Nehru government, and he resigned as MP in 1951 when he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha. Ambedkar later gave time to Shankaracharyas and other Hindu authorities to end ill practices, untouchability and discrimination against Dalits. When they failed, he converted to Buddhism with lakhs of supporters.“
The BSP leader said she was not against Hinduism as such. “But the fact is that iniquitous practices and atrocities against Dalits, trib als, converts and Muslims still continue. The construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya will not solve problems of poor and deprived people. BJP and R-S-S are making all efforts to mobilise votes by playing the Hindutva card,“ she said.
Mayawati said before abandoning Hinduism, she will give sufficient time to the Shankaracharyas and BJP-R-S-S to end all pre vailing unethical practices.
“If they fail, I will follow Am bedkar's path,“ she warned.
The BSP leader called BJP-R-S-S “casteists, Hindut vavadi and anti-quota“. She alleged that BJP conspired to get her killed during caste violence in Saharanpur in April-May . She called upon the cadres to avenge her resignation from Rajya Sabha by ensuring BSP's victory in the forthcoming municipal and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Targeting UP chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath, she said he should focus on development “once he completes visiting temples and worshipping“.
