Niranjan Hiranandini
5 July 2012. Special judge V.A. Daulatabadkar had asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to lodge a first information report (FIR) against realtor Niranjan Hiranandini and Maharashtra’s Additional Chief Secretary T.C. Benjamin in an $8.7 billion land scandal.
Activist Santosh Daundkara filed a complaint against Benjamin, Hiranandani and other civic officials for alleged involvement in the land scam that is worth Rs.45,000 crore.
Daundkara filed his complaint first with ACB on 30 June 2011. As the case involved state bureaucrats, ACB referred it to the state government. As the ACB failed to move in the matter, Daundkara lodged a criminal complaint with the ACB special court in April this year. The court order to file FIR came about as a result of this complaint.
Daundkara’s lawyer Y.P. Singh said that the FIR mentions the quantum of fraud as Rs.30, 000 crore. However, at current rates the value of the fraud is estimated at Rs.45, 000 crore ($ 8.7 billion).
