In a letter addressed to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on March 13 a Mumbai based NGO asserted that Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani had grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means and urged the minister to initiate a high-level enquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ambani and others involved in the grab.
Idrisi in a statement said that the land was owned by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana (Orphanage), a Public Charitable Trust. The charitable institution sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antillia Commercial Private Limited – alleged to be an entity controlled by Mukesh Ambani in July 2002 for 210.5 million (US$3.4 million). The prevailing market value of land at the time was at least Rupees 105 Crore, (10.5 billion) (US$24 million).
“Government cannot reject a CBI inquiry on the ground that a probe is being currently conducted under the provisions of Commission of Inquiry Act 2003”, President of the NGO Muslim-e-Hind, Ameen Idrisi, said while citing the example of the Adarsh Society scam in which simultaneous probes were conducted by the CBI and the judicial commission set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.