IRB Infra’s stock took a hit of 17.5 per cent intra-day on news that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had asked the company’s chairman, Virendra Mhaiskar, to take a lie-detector test in the case on the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty.
Worries about the adverse reactions led the company to hold an investor conference this afternoon. There, Mhaiskar said the management are not aware of the progress of the case after conduct of the polygrapgh test. In the statement however, the company said, “Mhaiskar and the company officials have readily agreed to undergo the polygraph test since they are confident of their non-involvement in the matter.”
“The deceased RTI activist’s brother had named various persons, including Virendra Mhaiskar as a suspect,” the company said in a clarification to the stock exchanges. “The Police department had conducted through inquiry in the matter and given a clean chit to Mhaiskar.”
This came after the stock crashed in early trading and closed down 11 per cent. Stock market sources said foreign investors, who own 19 per cent of the company and some mutual funds which hold five per cent stake, pruned their portfolios.
“We do not see this playing out in the longer term, and the market should wait for clarity,” said a Mumbai-based research analyst. “It’s not a sell, but not a great buy, either,” he added, explaining that the company’s stock might stabilise since there would be more clarity about Mhaiskar’s fate in the next two weeks.
Mhaiskar is one of the ten people accused in the case. Two other officials of the company are among the accused.
Recently, the Maharashtra government had handed the two-year-old murder case to the investigative authority. Shetty, a well-known whistle-blower who exposed several land scams in the state, was murdered near Talegaon near Pune.
IRB said no chargesheet has been filed so far, and that the polygraph test is not admissible in court as evidence.
The company’s involvement with the case is due to IRB’s acquisition of around 1,100 acres of land near the Mumbai Pune expressway between 2007 and 2010. The land was acquired for real estate development purposes. This was one of the causes for which Shetty had been crusading.
Shetty was digging into the possibility of land-grabbing from farmers along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. He had engaged in collecting evidence and even filed a complaint with the Inspector General of Registrars (IGR) about scores of illegal land registrations in the locales of Badgam and Maval. By the end of 2009, Shetty had even sought police protection, anticipating danger to his life. “We have not acquired any government land that Shetty was fighting for,” said Mhaiskar.
The company also stated that it had not taken any debt from banks to buy land; nor was there a personal guarantee given by the promoters to buy land. Mhaiskar also said he was not taking a legal opinion. “It is an inquiry with regard to a murder investigation and the management is co-operating with the agency,” he told analysts. “I don’t know what legal help can be sought.”
