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It wasn’t a very happy new year for Delhi-based industrialist Samir Thapar who was arrested by Uttarakhand Police in the Kolhu Chaur area of Lansdowne in Pauri Garhwal on charges of trespassing on forest land. Now, his bail has been rejected.
The Chairman and Managing Director of JCT Ltd was among 16 people who were booked under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act – and have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
The son of MM Thapar, Samir graduated from California State University, Los Angeles in Business Administration. He became part of JCT, one of the leading manufacturers of textiles and filament yarn, in 1993. JCT is the flagship company of the Thapar Group.
A keen sportsman, Samir was a shooter during his school days and serves as the President of the Indian Body Building Federation. The industrialist is also a rally car driver of some repute. He crashed in the Rally of Maharashtra this year, but that hasn’t stopped his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X from making news in the rally car driving circuit.
The 50-year-old’s social media profile listed public on Facebook suggests he’s a doting father of two and an animal lover who revels in the outdoors. He also seems to have a special interest in fast cars, weapons and army fatigues.
A photograph posted by him on 16 April 2015 shows Samir teaching his son how to hold a revolver.
In response to a comment criticising the photo, Samir Thapar wrote:
In November 2009, Samir was held by cops by mistake when he was at LAP, a lounge bar co-owned by actor Arjun Rampal. The Delhi Police team was looking for Sahil Dhingra, owner of leading apparel exporter Orient Craft, who was accompanied by Jessica Lal’s killer Manu Sharma, then out on bail. Manu Sharma slipped out of the back door, but Samir was held as he was walking out of LAP around 3 am. He was allowed to leave at 1 pm the next day.
JCT was caught in the global financial meltdown of 2008 and missed paying bondholders in 2011. In 2015, the hedge fund QET, which holds a majority of the Rs 115 crore of bonds, filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to wind up the company. The petition was dismissed. However, the company reported a turnaround and decided to pay shareholders with internal cash flow and with sale of non-core assets.
Samir is said to be the brain behind a mural titled ‘Mission Leopard’ on a 115-feet high water tanker on the outskirts of Gurgaon.
The mural was created by a team of artists led by Yantr and project curator Abhishek Kumar Singh. The duo is also associated with the Dadasaheb Phalke mural in Bandra.
(Source: JCT Limited, Bloomberg, Mission Leopard)
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