Sebi to auction Royal Twinkle, Citrus properties on April 6

New Delhi: Capital markets regulator, Sebi on Tuesday said it has lined up as many as 46 properties of Royal Twinkle Star Club and Citrus Check Inns for an auction on April 6, at a reserve price of over Rs97 crore.

The move is part of Sebi's efforts to recover funds worth thousands of crores of rupees raised by the companies. In a notice, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the auction will be conducted between 11 am to 1 pm on April 6, 2022. The properties to go under the hammer include office premises, residential flats, land parcels, shops located in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. From November 2019 to November 2021, more than 220 properties of the companies were auctioned at a reserve price of over Rs1,200 crore.

The move came after a Supreme Court order in December 2019 that directed the sale-cum-monitoring committee, headed by retired Justice J P Devdhar, to proceed with the sale of 114 properties of the companies within six months. In December 2018, Sebi had imposed a penalty of Rs50 lakh on Citrus Check Inns and its directors for non-compliance with its order, wherein it had barred them from raising funds from the public.

Sebi had received several investor complaints against Citrus alleging that directors of Royal Twinkle were now running their collective investment scheme (CIS) through Citrus. In August 2015, the regulator had imposed a four-year ban on Royal Twinkle and its four directors for illegally raising over Rs2,656 crore in the garb of the sham 'timeshar' holiday plans. Besides, it had directed the company and its officials to refund the money along with promised returns to the investors in three months.