New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) The CBI has registered 22 FIRs on the Supreme Court's directions to investigate the "unholy nexus" of builders and banks to cheat homebuyers in NCR, officials on Wednesday said.

The CBI has named Jaypee Sports International Ltd, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Ajnara India Ltd, Vatika Ltd, Jaypee Infratech Ltd, Supertech and Idea Builders among others in its separate FIRs.

The bankers and financial institutions like the State Bank of India, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd, Piramal Finance, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Capital Housing Finance and PNB Housing Finance Ltd among others have also been named in the FIRs registered by the Economic Offences unit of the agency, they said.

The CBI action followed the directives of the apex court bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh which allowed the agency to convert the six preliminary enquiries it conducted against various builders and banks into 22 regular cases for further investigation.

The case centres on a subvention scheme offered by banks and financial institutions to homebuyers wherein sanctioned loan amounts were directly disbursed to developers who were obligated to pay the EMIs until possession of the flats was handed over to the buyers.

Following widespread defaults by developers on their commitments, the banks began demanding repayment from the purchasers.

Commending the CBI for its diligence in recognising the scale and severity of the alleged fraud, the apex court said that the agency had examined more than 1,000 individuals and visited 58 project sites as part of its investigation.

The top court noted that the investigation in the seventh preliminary enquiry registered by the CBI, which is over projects of various builders except Supertech Ltd, falling outside the NCR region in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali and Allahabad was still underway.

It was hearing a batch of petitions filed by over 1,200 homebuyers, who booked flats under the subvention plans in various housing projects in the NCR region, especially Noida, Greater Noida and Gurugram.

The petitioners allege they are being coerced by the financial institutions to remit EMIs despite not having received possession of their flats.

Earlier on March 29, the top court had allowed the CBI to register five preliminary enquiries into affairs of builders and projects in the NCR region.

It allowed one preliminary enquiry to be registered against reality major Supertech Ltd against whom 799 homebuyers have moved the top court by way of 84 appeals involving projects in eight different cities.

"We accept the recommendation and the CBI shall accordingly register regular cases and proceed in accordance with law," the bench had ordered.

The bench granted six weeks to the agency for its investigation into the seventh preliminary enquiry over projects outside the NCR. PTI ABS AS AS

Subvention scheme abuse prompts investigation; banks and developers probed for coercing homebuyers to repay EMIs. The Supreme Court directed the CBI to convert multiple preliminary enquiries into 22 regular criminal cases and register FIRs probing an alleged unholy nexus between developers and banks over a subvention scheme where loan proceeds were paid to builders who defaulted on EMIs, leading lenders to seek repayments from homebuyers; over one thousand individuals were examined and numerous project sites inspected while a separate enquiry outside the NCR remains under investigation.