 | | In the dock: Former Delhi police commissioner K K Paul has been summoned by the court for filing a false, concocted and malicious charge sheet against the owner of the Metropolitan, a renowned five star hotel | After the Balbir Singh episode, former Delhi police chief K K Paul will now have to defend himself in the court as he has been summoned by the Patiala House Courts for filing a false, concocted and malicious charge sheet against the owner of the Metropolitan, a five star hotel in the Capital. Paul along with some officials of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police will have to appear in court on February 6.
Money matters
The court issued summons on December 16 last year when the proceedings in the case began. Sunair Hotels Group, that owns the Metropolitan, had a financial dispute with one of its shareholders, VLS Finance, for past 10 years. VLS Finance had 20 per cent shares in the Sunair Hotels. According to S P Gupta, owner of the Metropolitan, the matter was purely of civil dispute, but Paul, in his capacity as police commissioner, instructed the EOW to file an FIR and start proceedings against owner of Sunair Hotels.
Personal care
Gupta alleged that the owners of VLS Finance knew Paul, so he took personal interest in the case, despite chief prosecutor of the Delhi police warning against filing of case as matter was purely civil financial dispute and the Delhi police had no link with the issue. The former police commissioner took personal interest and made the noting in file to go ahead with FIR and criminal proceedings against the hotel owner.
Raw deal
In 1982, Gupta had been allotted a licence by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to construct a hotel in the Capital. After protracted litigation with the NDMC over various issues, Gupta got possession of the land in 1994. After this Gupta struck a deal with VLS in March 1995. The initial paid-up capital of the company was to be Rs 30 crore. Of this, Rs 22 crore was to be brought in by Gupta and his family at par, Rs 7 crore by VLS (again at par). and Rs 1 crore by Singapore-based hotel chain Accor Asia at a premium of Rs 90. It was agreed that the company would go public later at a premium of Rs 90.
VLS also agreed to mobilise loans of Rs 85 crore for the project, manage the proposed public issue and give Sunair a security deposit of Rs 10 crore at an interest rate of 20 per cent. If the VLS could not arrange the funds on schedule, this deposit would be forfeited. The VLS had paid Sunair Rs 7 crore as its share of equity capital, by 18 April 1995. It had paid the security deposit also by April 1996. However, things took an ugly turn after Accor withdrew from the project within a year.
Legal hassle
The VLS was also piqued at Sunair not having paid the quarterly interest on the security deposit of Rs 8 crore. In August 1998, VLS filed a petition with the Company Law Board (CLB) asking it to declare the 21 million shares allotted to the Guptas against this Rs 21 crore null and void. The CLB initially froze the voting rights of the shares held by Gupta and his family but later restored them. | 
