Gautam Gambhir lands in legal trouble ahead of Mumbai Test; Delhi court orders cheating investigation

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has landed himself in trouble after being found involved in a cheating case with several flat buyers. A Delhi court has ordered a fresh investigation on Gambhir and others who were involved in this matter.

A cheating case was filed against real estate firms like Rudra Buildwell Realty Pvt. Ltd, H R Infracity Pvt Ltd., U M Architectures and Contractors Ltd., and Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir was the brand ambassador and the director of these companies' joint venture.

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Delhi court orders investigation against Gautam Gambhir

Special Judge Vishal Gogne put the magisterial court order aside and stated that it reflected "inadequate expression of mind" in finalizing the allegations against Gautam Gambhir.

"The allegations also merit further investigation into the role of Gautam Gambhir," Judge Vishal Gogne wrote in his order on October 29, as quoted by PTI.

The judge further saw Gambhir as the only accused who was in "direct interface with the investors" being a brand ambassador. Although the former Indian cricketer had been discharged, the court's order made no mention of him paying ₹6 crore to Rudra Buildwell Realty Pvt. Ltd. and receiving ₹4.85 crore from the company.

"The chargesheet did not clarify whether the amounts paid back to him by Rudra had any nexus or were sourced from the funds received from the investors in the project in question. Since the core of the allegations pertains to the offence of cheating, it was required to be clarified by the chargesheet and also by the impugned order whether any component of the cheated amount came to the hand of Gambhir," the Judge stated.

It reflects "inadequate expression of mind" - Judge Vishal Gogne

The court further noted that Gautam Gambhir had registered financial transactions with the company apart from his role as a brand ambassador from June 29, 2011, to October 1, 2013. The court order stated that Gambhir was an office bearer at the time the project was being announced.

Further, the court stated that the "bulk of the repayment to him" had occurred after his resignation from the post of additional director on October 1, 2013.

"Yet, the impugned order generalised the findings against Gambhir by combining the findings against him with observations of the court regarding other accused . The impugned order reflects inadequate expression of mind in deciding the allegations against Gambhir. The allegations also merit further investigation into the role of Gambhir," the order added.

Gambhir had reportedly also jointly advertised a housing project called "Serra Bella" in 2011 at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The name of the project was renamed to "Pavo Real" in 2013.

The complainants booked flats in these projects and paid between INR 6 lakh to INR 16 lakh after being convinced by the advertisements. However, there were no infrastructural developments made on the plots till 2016. which was the time of making.

As a result, the complainants learned that the project was not developed as per the plan and had also not gotten approval from the state government authorities. The companies later stopped attending to the phone calls and inquiries from the complainants.

The complainants later got to know that the site of the housing project was involved in litigation and there was a stay order by Allahabad High Court in 2003 over the land possession.

Where is Gautam Gambhir now?

Gautam Gambhir is currently involved in India's home Test series against New Zealand where he is serving as India's head coach.

After this series, he will travel to Australia with Team India for a five-match Test series against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.