Homebuyers agony can’t be prolonged, SC pulls up CBI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the CBI for its investigation into the “unholy nexus” between banks and developers to allegedly dupe homebuyers in Delhi-NCR and other parts of the country, saying prolonging the probe will lead to more agony for the flat buyers.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took exception to CBI’s statement that some of the cases where homebuyers have been defrauded under the subvention scheme be transferred to State agencies for investigation.

The bench, which refused to transfer those cases to the State agencies, asked the CBI to probe all cases and convert the preliminary enquiries into regular cases.

“This court cannot wait for an indefinite period for the conclusion of the investigation,” the bench said, adding, “delay or prolonging of the investigation will only lead to more agony for the homebuyers who have already been harassed by the builders and developers, apparently in collusion and connivance with financial institutions and banks.”

The top court was hearing a batch of pleas of more than 1,200 homebuyers, with the lead petition filed by Himanshu Singh through advocate Akshay Srivastava, who had booked flats under the subvention plans in various housing projects in the NCR, especially in Noida, Greater Noida and Gurugram. They allege that they were being forced by banks to pay instalments despite not having possession of flats.

The bench had ordered CBI probes into “unholy nexus” banks and builders to allegedly dupe homebuyers through subvention schemes.

Under the subvention scheme, banks disburse the sanctioned amount directly to the accounts of builders, who are then required to pay EMIs on the sanctioned loan amount until flats are handed over to homebuyers.

After builders started defaulting on EMIs to banks, in line with the tripartite agreement, banks demanded the EMIs from homebuyers — the third party in the agreement.

The bench observed that if this remains the approach of the CBI, then it may set up a committee to oversee the investigation by the agency. The top court said that if the CBI is facing staff shortage to probe the cases, it can write to state DGPs and take the help of their Economic Offence Wings.

While expressing displeasure that bank officials were not being investigated by the CBI, the bench asked a “responsible officer” from the CBI to file an affidavit by next date of hearing on the pace of probe in all the cases. It said that CBI should consult a report filed in the matter by amicus curiae Rajiv Jain on April 29, last year, and directed the agency to indicate a probable timeline for the completion of the probe. Advocate Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for another petitioner, said that the requirement of prior prosecution sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act against erring bank officials, who are public servants, should be dispensed with since it was a court-monitored investigation.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI, said that the agency will take care of any such impediment.

The bench said that all affected parties, including homebuyers, banks and builders, should submit their claims, suggestions and recommendations to the amicus curiae, who would then examine them and place appropriate material before the court.

“Homebuyers, financial institutions or builders shall be at liberty to submit their claims, suggestions and recommendations to the learned amicus curiae for his consideration. No such claims shall be directly entertained by this court unless it is screened through the amicus,” it said.

On January 20, the top court asked a special CBI court here to take cognisance within two weeks of three chargesheets filed by the federal agency in the cases related to the “unholy nexus” between banks and developers in the NCR region and proceed with the trial.

In September 23, last year, the apex court had allowed the CBI to register six more regular cases into the “unholy nexus” between banks and developers to dupe homebuyers in real estate projects in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mohali and Prayagraj.

Two months prior to that, the court had allowed the CBI to register 22 cases in which homebuyers were duped in the National Capital Region (NCR) by using the subvention scheme.

On April 29, 2025, the apex court directed the CBI to register seven preliminary enquiries against builders in NCR, including Supertech Limited. Frowning upon the collusion of development authorities’ officials, banks and builders to dupe homebuyers, the court said it has found a prima facie nexus between renowned banks and builders in Noida, Gurugram, Yamuna Expressway, Greater Noida, Mohali, Mumbai, Kolkata and Allahabad.

Jain had called Supertech Limited the “main culprit” in defrauding homebuyers, whereas the Corporation Bank had advanced more than Rs 2,700 crore to builders through subvention schemes.

The amicus’s report has revealed that Supertech Limited alone has secured a loan of Rs 5,157.86 crore since 1998.