MillenniumPost
Nation

FIR against Baijal, Bharat Hotels for Udaipur deal

Pradeep Baija was the disinvestment secretary during Arun Shourie’s tenure as disinvestment minister in 2001-2002.

There was allegation that the five-star Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel, one of the units of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), spread over 29 acres of prime property in Udaipur and worth Rs 151 crore was sold to Bharat Hotels at an undervalued price of Rs 7.5 crore in 2002.

‘We have received several allegations that the disinvestment ministry undervalued the Lakshmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur to make an easy deal for the BTH Group of Hotels, which is also known as Bharat Hotels. Acting on the allegations we have registered a case and further investigation is on,’ a CBI spokesperson said.

Apart from indicting the former bureaucrat and and the owner of Bharat Hotels Jyotsna Suri in the case, the CBI has also named Ashish Guha, former managing director of Lazard India, Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey, owner of Kanti Karamsey and Company and authorised representative of Bharat Hotels, which also owns Hotel Lalit, in their FIR. ‘Already few of them were questioned by our sleuths and the rest of them will be done soon,’ CBI sources said. It was learnt that the agencies have already contacted Baijal and Jyotsna Suri for their version on acquiring the Laxmi Vilas Palace ITDC hotel at a throwaway price as compared to its present market valuation causing loss to the national exchequer in terms of taxes.

‘During 2001-02, Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur, a heritage hotel and one of the units of ITDC, was first drastically undervalued and then disinvested to a private hotel situated at Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, at a price of Rs 7.52 crore,’ the CBI statement reads.

Sources said as per the then District Level Committee (DLC), rates of land in which the hotel was situated was nearly Rs 151 crores and in this way, a loss of Rs 143.48 crores (approx) was caused to ITDC.

The agency has also mentioned unnamed government officers and private persons in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. On 5 February, 2002, the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment in its meeting approved the disinvestments of three hotel properties of ITDC-Qutab Hotel, Lodhi Hotel in New Delhi and Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur.

The hotels were incurring losses to the tune of 51 per cent in 2001. This is not for the first time when Baijal was summoned by the CBI. Baijal, who was also the former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief, was earlier summoned by the CBI in connection to the 2G case investigations. He is a retired Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, who also worked as home secretary at the Centre.

The CBI officers are conducting raids at four places in New Delhi and Mumbai and have reportedly seized some incriminating documents related to the case.
Next Story
Share it