New Delhi:

Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties of Gautam Thapar’s Avantha Group. Valued at Rs 678.48 crore, the properties are in the form of land located in Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

On August 19, 2019, CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd had disclosed under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 to Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange regarding findings which had potential implications on the financial position of the company.

The disclosure made by CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd revealed that assets and liabilities of the company have been understated considerably; that advances to related parties and unrelated parties have also been understated; additionally, certain assets’ company have been provided as collateral, the company was made a co-borrower and/or guarantor for enabling financing of loans which were immediately routed out of the company without due authorisation.

The notice of the disclosure was taken by the lender banks of the company and on the basis of a complaint made by State Bank of India, CBI, New Delhi registered an FIR dated 22.06.2021 under the various sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act against CG Power and Industrial Solution Ltd: Gautam Thapar, along with K. N. Neelkanth, Madhav Acharya, B. Hariharan, Omakar Goswami and unknown public servant(s) and private person(s) in perpetuating a bank fraud on consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 2,435 crore.

On the basis of the above FIR, ED initiated the investigation under PMLA, and during the course of the investigation, earlier two Provisional Attachment Orders were issued wherein the properties of Rs 14.43 crore were attached.

One Key Managerial Personnel of the company, namely Madhav Acharya, was also arrested in January 2024, and a prosecution complaint has been filed against him and other persons found to have been involved in the offence of money laundering.

Further investigation conducted by ED revealed that Rs 1307.06 crore have been diverted to Avantha Group companies by availing loans and out of its funds. Most of the funds have been paid without the due authorisation of the board and the funds ultimately paid to Avantha Group companies remained still outstanding on Avantha Group. Therefore, the properties of companies of Avantha Group worth Rs 678.48 Crore have been attached.

Further investigation is under way.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Purushottam Chavan, husband of an IPS officer, in connivance with other accused laundered money to the tune of Rs 11 crore in India and abroad, as per the supplementary charge sheet filed in a special court by the ED in the alleged Income Tax refund fraud case of Rs 263 crore.

According to the federal anti-money laundering agency, former Income Tax officer and prime accused, Tanaji Adhikari, lived lavishly and acquired assets at various places in India using the proceeds of crime (POC).

The case pertains to the alleged fraudulent generation and issuance of TDS (tax deducted at source) refunds from the Income-tax department to the tune of Rs 263.95 crore.

Chavan was arrested in May and is currently in judicial custody. Other arrested accused in the case are former Income Tax Officer Tanaji Mandal Adhikari, Bhushan Patil, Rajesh Shetty, and Rajesh Batreja.

The Enforcement Directorate recently filed the supplementary charge sheet against six people, including the IPS officer’s husband, in the PMLA court in Mumbai.

Special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, A C Daga, on Monday took cognisance of the charge sheet, stating prima facie all accused “appear to be involved in the process of money laundering”.

On careful perusal of the allegations made in the complaint (charge sheet) and roles attributed to the accused clearly indicate that all of them “are either part of the generation of the proceeds of crime by the criminal activities related to the predicate offence”, the court noted.

The ED probe suggested Chavan colluding with Rajesh Batreja and other co-accused in dealing with and diverting proceeds of crime in India and abroad, the agency stated.

From August 2023 to November 2023, Batreja and Chavan dealt with POC of around Rs 11 crore, according to ED.

Batreja brought back the tainted money from Dubai through the Hawala channel, while Chavan used international SIM cards from the UK and UAE and frequently visited various countries during the commission of the offence and thereafter, the ED stated highlighting the roles of the accused.

Adhikari, from November 2019 to March 2021, used POC for a lavish lifestyle and acquired assets at various places in India with the help of other accused, the probe agency said.

One of the crime strategies adopted by the accused involved converting the proceeds of crime into cash so that it cannot be traced easily and subsequently siphoning off the cash to Dubai through the Hawala channel, it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)