Adarsh society case: over ₹1K-cr attached

NEW DELHI: The ED has attached immovable and movable properties worth whopping ~1489 crores in connection with embezzlement of public deposits by Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Limited (ACCSL), the agency said.

The properties include land and building valued at ~1464.76 crore and fixed deposits/balance in various bank accounts of ~24.44 crore approximately belonging to Adarsh Group of Mukesh Modi, Virendra Modi and his family; Riddhi Siddhi Group of Mahendra Tak, Saurabh Tak and properties of other accused, it said.

The Enforcement Directorate ( ED) found these properties -- in Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh -- involved in the offence of money laundering and provisionally attached them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

The agency had initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged in December, 2018 under relevant provisions of the IPC by the Special Operation Group, Rajasthan Police for the offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery of valuable security and criminal conspiracy against Mukesh, Rahul Modi and others of Adarsh Group, officials of ACCSL and other persons. The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint of various investors against Mukesh, Rahul and others for not returning their money invested in Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Limited on maturity.

The probe conducted so far under the PMLA revealed that Mukesh, in collusion with his relatives Virendra, Rahul and other associates, siphoned off depositors’ funds from ACCSL by way of inter linked fraudulent transactions. Mukesh, his relatives and associates incorporated several companies/firms/limited Liability Partnerships for diverting funds from ACCSL to their real sstate business by way of availing fraudulent loans, the ED said.