The rise and fall of Anil Sharma, ex-CMD Amrapali Group

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Anil Sharma, the former CMD of the insolvent Amrapali group along with eight others for the murder of former secretary of Balika Vidyapeeth, Sharad Chandra in Bihar nine years ago. The CBI which took over the investigation of the case on the orders of the Patna High Court said the motive behind the murder was to take over the land and assets belonging to the educational institution.

Who is Anil Sharma? 
Technocrat turned realtor; Anil Sharma became the poster boy of affordable housing when he launched his first project in 2003 with a project of 107 flats in Noida.  He started building various kinds of properties then after. Popularity followed his success as a builder, and he became the president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association (Credai) in NCR. Sharma launched the first Amrapali project, ‘Exotica’ in Noida’s Sector 50 with 140 flats during 2009-2010. It took Sharma only two years to establish a pan-India presence. He delivered 25 projects and had some 50 more under development in Noida, Jaipur, and Lucknow.

Next, he forayed into the hospitality industry in 2013 and started hotels in UP’s Bareilly and Jharkhand’s Deogarh. The same year, he ventured into filmmaking and launched two films Gandhi to Hitler in 2011 and I Don’t Love You in 2013. Sharma also contested elections in Bihar but lost.

Fall of Amrapali
Only in 2017 did trouble start brewing for Amrapali when cheques issued by the company started bouncing. The same year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an insolvency plea by the Bank of Baroda against Amrapali group. A forensic investigation of the builders’ finances in 2018 revealed a 3000-crore fund diversion.
The Amrapali Group's former directors, including Anil Kumar Sharma has been in jail for over four years with 24 cases pending against him. He was granted a two-week interim bail last year on health grounds.

Amrapali Completion
Following a long-drawn legal battle, the Supreme Court has been at the helm of the completion of pending 40,000 flats. The estimated cost for completion was drawn at Rs 8,000 crore. NBCC has been functioning towards the completion and sale of the pending flats under the umbrella of Amrapali Stalled Projects and Investment Reconstruction Establishment (ASPIRE) as directed by the Supreme Court.

Anarock’s sale update
Out of 5,200 flats of the insolvent Amrapali Developers that were handed over to Anarock properties for sale, 4000 are still unsold.  “Anarock has so far sold 1200 flats in the NBCC Aspire mandate with 520 units sold in the last three months alone,” an Anarock spokesperson told Business Today. The unsold properties of the insolvent builder are spread across 22 projects in Noida and Greater Noida (West) areas of NCR.