New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Sebi on Tuesday said it will auction a total of 15 properties of Sun Plant Agro and Sun Plant Business for a reserve price of nearly Rs 10 crore to recover money that was illegally raised from the public.

The auction will be held in online mode on February 28. These properties include land parcels and flats spread across West Bengal, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice. Inviting bids for the sale of recovery proceedings against Sun Plant Agro & Sun Plant Business and their directors, Sebi said the auction will be conducted online on February 28, 2022, from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. Out of the 15 properties being put on the block, nine belong to Sun Plant Business and the remaining six relate to Sun Plant Agro. Total reserve price of these properties is pegged at Rs 9.65 crore.

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Adroit Technical Services has been appointed as the e-auction service provider. Bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, title of properties put on auction and claims, among others, prior to submitting their bids, the regulator said. Sebi had earlier attached some of their properties after directives asking them to refund investors' money along with interest did not materialise. In this matter, the watchdog had also attached demat and bank accounts. In December 2014, attachment proceedings were initiated against Sun Plant Agro to recover Rs 69.34 crore and a separate attachment order came in December 2015 against Sun Plant Business to recover a sum of Rs 5.76 crore. Sun Plant Business had collected Rs 4.17 crore from 470 investors by issuing redeemable preference shares (RPS) between 2005 to 2008 without complying with the public issue norms. Sun Plant Agro was running a collective investment scheme (CIS) without necessary approvals and registration. The firm was alleged to have mobilised funds from the public with a promise of high returns under its sale of plants scheme.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)