Mumbai: Noted developer Niranjan Hiranandani has filed an application in the Bombay high court seeking quashing and setting aside the chargesheet filed against him by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2010. Hiranandani had been chargesheeted after the Employee Provident Fund Office (EPFO) had submitted a report stating that his group of companies had not deposited the provident fund of its employees amounting to Rs 9.36 crore between 2003 and 2006. Based on the report, the ACB had charged Hiranandani with criminal conspiracy, cheating and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. With the trial to get underway soon, Hiranandani approached the court to quash the FIR against him.
A division bench was informed that the a co-accused K. Gopalan who was the assistant provident fund commissioner in 2006 and had investigated the EPF scam by five companies of the Hiranandani Group had been discharged from the case.
Hiranandani’s petition prayed that just because he was the director of the company he cannot be vicariously held responsible for the scam.
