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Promoter group shareholders and investment firms in Faridabad-based medical disposables manufacturer Poly Medicure have bought several hundred acres of land in Gajner village of Kolayat Tehsil in Bikaner district from Congress President’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.
Poly Medicure shares are listed on the bourses and closed at Rs 435 a piece on Monday. A significant portion of funding for these purchases were received from Delhi-based Bhushan Power & Steel in the form of unsecured loans, investigations by Business Standard showed.
In a series of 17 land deals registered between January 23 and April 10, these investors bought around 191 hectares of land from companies owned by Vadra such as Skylight Hospitality, Sky Light Realty, Real Earth Estate, North India IT parks and Blue Breeze Trading. A hectare is roughly equal to 2.5 acres.
Mahesh Nagar, brother of Haryana-based politican Lalit Nagar and Vadra’s right hand man in Rajasthan was a signatory in all these deals.
According to the copies of sale deeds reviewed by Business Standard, the sell off was triggered when Delhi-based Allegeny Finlease bought a land parcel of 31.61 hectares for a sum of Rs 2.34 crore.
The transaction valued each hectare at Rs 7.41 lakh, substantially higher than the prevailing rates. Allegeny holds 14.28% in Poly Medicure. It does not have any other ostensible business activity and holds a portfolio of relatively insignificant holdings in companies such as Reliance Industries, etc.
Two Faridabad-based individuals Devender Singh (9.03%) and Dimpal Ravinder Singh (6.27) emerge as the largest shareholders in the company, which has 42 shareholders holding the remaining equity.
According to Allegeny’s Balance sheet for the financial year ended March 2012, it had an outstanding unsecured long term loan of Rs 5.64 crore from Delhi-based Bhushan Power and Steel. Almost the entire sum was invested in properties. Schedules to the balance sheet showed that its land holdings went from nil in Fy2011 to Rs 5.44 crore in Fy 12.
Allegeny had also extended long term loans and advances to BS Trade Invest (Rs 9.17 lakh), Sacchiyaya Enterprises ( Rs 21.8 lakh) and VCB Trading (Rs 31.1 lakh), the balance sheet showed.
All these three entities figured in the land deals with Vadra-owned companies in Gajner. Four deals were registered on February 14 by BS Trade Invest, which also has a 10.9% in Poly Medicure.
North India IT Parks and Real Earth Estate were the Vadra firms which offloaded a little over 47 hectares at a combined registered value of Rs 1.53 crore.
About a month later, another Poly Medicure shareholder Sachchiya Enterprises (stake 3.79%) bought about 55 hectares for Rs 1.37 crore in five transactions. Vadra’s Lambodar Art Enterprises sold 45.31 hectares, while the rest was sold by Skylight Realty.
On April 10, Nagar struck again. This time he sold land holdings of Blue Breeze trading, Skylight Hospitality and Skylight Realty. oVER 53 hectares changed hands in seven different transactions. VCB Trading, controlled by Vishal Baid and Shaily Baid of Jaipur, bought these pieces for Rs 1.33 crore.
VCB and the Baids are listed as promoter group shareholders of Poly Medicure.
In an email response, the company secretary of Poly Medicure said, “Please take a note that Poly Medicure Limited has no linkage with the land transactions mentioned by you in your E-mail. We, however, have checked the land transactions with the Companies mentioned by you in your E-mail, some of whom happened to be our shareholders.
They have informed us that shareholders of these companies are residents of Rajasthan and are natives of Bikaner area. They have purchased certain parcels of land in that area for the purpose of possible development of Renewable energy projects.”
While the CS distanced himself from the deal, his email id cs@polymedicure.com was quoted as the official email-id of the firm BS Trade Invest also. Further, while the company was registered in Delhi and most of the shareholders were in Jaipur, the auditors appointed were all Faridabad-based, the home of Nagars.
Like BS Trade Invest had also received a loan of Rs 1.02 crore from Bhushan Power and Steel. Mails sent to Sanjay Singal, chairman and managing director of Bhushan Power and Steel and his executive assistant last week did not elicit any response.
Poly Medicure said in the statement that “They (the shareholders) have also informed us that ICDs( inter-corporate deposits) taken by them from M/s Bhushan Power and Steel are interested bearing loans taken in the normal course of business.”
In addition to these, on July 31, Mahesh Nagar sold a further 28.35 hectares to Stilokraft, a partnership firm owned by the Baid family. In five deals, DS Buildmart and Alpha Heights, the sellers raised about Rs 55 lakh.
Hari Om Garg, senior journalist from Bikaner, who had first exposed Vadra’s ventures into Rajasthan in his eveninger Sandh Dainik Jambaaz dated March 24 2010, said these deals were the sale transactions registered in Kolayat tehsil alone, where Gajner village falls.
“The government has changed rules of registering land deals recently. Earlier deals anywhere in the district could be registered in Bikaner. Now, only the registry under whose jurisdiction the land falls can register the transaction,” Garg said.
According to a Bikaner-based land dealer familiar with the Gajaner area, Vadra’s companies continue to buy and sell land in the Bikaner area. “They have not forced anyone to sell lower than market rates. On most occasions, they have paid a few thousands (per bigha) extra, but not less,” he said.
However, nobody is clear why Vadra had to enter in to scores of such low value deals totaling a paltry Rs 7.35 crore, a price of a single luxury apartment in Delhi.
