One of the most luxurious hotels in India, Laxmi Vilas Palace in Udaipur was sold by the Atal Bihari Vajpayeegovernment at a loss of Rs 244 crore to Bharat Hotels Ltd in 2002, the CBI court said on Thursday.The court has directed the investigating agency to file an FIR against Arun Shourie, who was the disinvestment minister in the Vajpayee government, for corruption in the sale of the luxury hotel.The court recalled Shourie’s background as a journalist who has spoken against corruption in debates and interviews.

“This proved his double standards on the issue of corruption,” special judge Puran Kumar Sharma said.The court has also directed registration of FIRs against former bureaucrat Pradeep Baijal, Ashish Guha, the managing director of Lazard India Ltd who was the financial adviser, valuer Kantilal Karamsey of Kantilal Karamsey - Company and Jyotsana Suri, director of Bharat Hotels Ltd.Meanwhile, the district magistrate of Udaipur has been directed to seize Laxmi Vilas Palace.

The hotel will remain under the Rajasthan government’s custody until the matter is disposed of, the court ordered.What's the caseThe Vajpayee government's disinvestment ministry, led by Arun Shourie at the time, sold Laxmi Vilas Palace in 2002 to the Lalit Group for only Rs 7.5 crore.

The deal at the time had come as a huge surprise to locals as it is a prime property.However, the matter remained under wraps as the subsequent UPA governments did not investigate the matter.Suddenly, on August 13, 2014, the CBI registered a case based on an input that some unknown officers from the Department of Disinvestment, in connivance with a private hotelier during 1999-2002 renovated and then sold Laxmi Vilas Palace at a throwaway price.After the investigation, the agency filed a closure report saying that nothing was found.But the court refused to accept it.

The court said that the CBI has found that the value of the land was at least Rs 151 crore and the sale is only worth Rs 7.5 crore, so how can CBI say that nothing was found.The CBI court in Jodhpur ordered the CBI to re-investigate the case, but the CBI once again filed a closure report.Angry at this, the court reprimanded the CBI and questioned its role.

On August 13, 2019, the central probe agency was again directed to investigate the matter.The third time around, the CBI found corruption.

In its report to the court, the investigating agency said that the property was worth Rs 252 crore but was sold at Rs 7.5 crore, causing a loss of Rs 244 crore to the exchequer.On Thursday, the court criticised the CBI for filing a closure report despite finding in its preliminary inquiry that the property was sold wrongly.

The judge said this was deplorable.

He said the entire country looks up to the CBI as a prestigious agency.Appointing the district magistrate as the receiver of the property, the judge said he would produce a report on its movable and immovable assets within three months.He will also arrange that the hotel is run by a central government institution with experience in this industry.The accounts will be submitted to the court on a quarterly basis, the judge directed.The court said those engaged in the disinvestment process were IAS officers and not expected to have no idea about the worth of property like this in a city like Udaipur.The preliminary investigation validated the accusations and revealed that Pradip Baijal abused his position, entering into a conspiracy with Guha, Karamsey and Bharat Hotels Limited, the court said.Kantilal Karamsey - Company valued the land at just Rs 45 per square feet against the going rate of Rs 500-1000 per square feet then for commercial plots, it said, citing the preliminary report.It said Shourie and Baijal took the decision to appoint the valuers.(With inputs from PTI)