Acting on the orders of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Khaliquzzama of Agra, city police raided the house of Galgotia University’s chairman Sunil Galgotia in Noida and arrested his wife Padmini Galgotia and son Dhruv Galgotia.
The raid and arrests occurred on Tuesday. The case relates to alleged forgery and default on repayment of loans totalling over Rs 100 crore. The case was lodged last month by SE Investments Limited at Hari Parwat police station in Agra. Sunil Galgotia managed a stay from the Allahabad high court.
Senior lawyers of the district court tried hard to obtain bail also for Padmini and Dhruv Galgotia, but the CJM ordered that the two be placed in 14 days’ remand.
The complainant told police that owners of Shakuntala Education and Welfare Society, managed and run by Sunil Galgotia, had taken loans from them and defaulted on instalments despite several reminders.
The investment firm alleged that Sunil Galgotia had presented various fake documents to get loans, including fake balance sheets.
SSP Shalabh Mathur said that the FIR mentioned that Sunil Galgotia has taken 10 loans from SE Finance Limited in two years, from 2010 to 2012, ranging between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 37 crore. The total liability, inclusive of interest, was Rs 120 crore. The Galgotias had to return the money in 24 instalments but stopped repayment after just the first few instalments.
The investment firm issued notices to the society, but received no reply, the complainant said.
“As per the company’s declaration, the Galgotias have to pay a sum of Rs 120 crore to the SE Investment Company. This includes interest on the huge sum as well,” the SSP said.
The court has issued non-bailable warrants against four people in this case — Sunil Galgotia, his mother Jugnu, wife Padmini and son Dhruv.
Sunil Galgotia managed a stay from Allahabad high court while police arrested Padmini and Dhruv from their Noida home on Tuesday.
Sunil Agarwal, managing director of SE Investment Limited told TOI that after the complaint lodged in Agra, the owners of Shakuntala Education and Welfare Society approached the Delhi high court. In their application before the high court, the Galgotias claimed that their institution was facing a huge loss. He added that the case, however, pertained not just to the loan amount, but also the forgery of documents to avail loans.
“At the time of taking the loan, the Shakuntala Education and Welfare Society presented fake documents. They claimed that Galgotia University was part of Shakuntala Education and Welfare Society, but in the Delhi high court, they claimed that the varsity was a different organization. We also came to know about various irregularities committed by the Galgotias, including embezzlement. That is when we decided to file the case against Sunil Galgotia,” Sunil Agarwal said.