Cops hunt for City Limo boss as court rejects anticipatory bail
TNN 14 November 2009, 02:11am IST
The city police have launched a hunt for City Limouzines chairman S M Masood after the sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail on Friday.
More than 200 investors had gathered at the court from the morning to hear the verdict. Sessions judge N D Dhote pushed it back twice, and finally pronounced a one-line order saying Masood’s anticipatory bail was rejected. There are three FIRs against him in Mumbai.
City Limouzines and its sister concern City Realcom have been accused of defaulting on interest payments to thousands of investors nationwide. "We’ve been trying to locate Masood. We checked several places where he might be hiding, " a senior police officer said.
Masood’s lawyers had argued that it was a civil dispute, but the police contended that it was a case of cheating and said several investors had been duped by the company.
The court order is a major setback for Masood, who has been filing numerous petitions in several courts for relief. He has filed six transfer petitions in the Supreme Court, for which the apex court has asked the state to file its reply.
The police have also initiated a separate investigation into group company City Realcom’s agreement with some landowners where a plot of the land was shown to investors as belonging to them.