Another 1,700 acres of Wadhwans’ land, 4 Four Bungalows flats of Waryam identified

ED MOVES FOR FATHER-SON DUO’S CUSTODY IN MONEY LAUNDERING PROBE

Another 1,700 acres of land belonging to the scam-tainted Rakesh and Sarang Wadhwan has been identified by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which sought the custody of the father-son duo in the Rs4,355 crore scam in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.

On Wednesday, the Wadhwans, along with the former chairman of the bank, Waryam Singh, were remanded in judicial custody till October 23 by a metropolitan magistrate’s court. Soon afterwards, the ED moved an application in the court seeking the Wadhwans custody in the money laundering probe the agency has launched to trace the proceeds of the scam. The Wadhwans are likely to be produced in a special court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, sources said during the scrutiny of records recovered from the office and residential premises of the Wadhwans, ED stumbled upon documents of 1,700 acres belonging to HDIL group near the Vijay Durg port in Sindhudurg. Earlier, records of another 160 acres belonging to the Wadhwans in Vijay Durg, worth around Rs125 crore, was found.

“The evaluation of the new property is yet to be made. We will initiate the process for the provisional attachment of the land,” sources quoted ED officials.

Apart from the Vijay Durg lands, the seized moveable and immovable properties of the Wadhwans included -2,100 acres of land parcels in Vasai-Virar-Palghar, bungalow and 5 acre farm in Vasai (w), 2.5 acre farm and a bungalow in Alibaug, a couple of flats and a bungalow in Khar-Bandra area, another bungalow at Bandstand, 80 unencumbered properties in and around Mumbai, 55 per cent stake in 72 acres in Kuktapally near Hyderabad, 80 acres in Greater Noida along the Yamuna Express highway, two private jets, a private yacht, over a dozren luxury cars and other vehicles and jewellery worth Rs66 crore.

These apart, the Wadhwans also own a sprawling apartment in Dubai and another apartment with land on the outskirts of London. The acquisition of these properties, suspected to have been made from the proceeds of crime, has been estimated to be over Rs3,830 crore, so far.

The EOW had earlier confiscated immovable property records of the Wadhwans of over Rs3,500 crore during searches at the PMC bank’s central office in Bhandup (w). Meanwhile, the ED has also identified 4 more flats belonging to former PMC chairman in Four Bungalow area of Andheri (w). Ownership of the flats are in the name of Singh’s wife and daughter, sources added. The flats would be provisionally attached. Earlier, the ED had frozen two accounts of Singh, having deposits of over Rs10 crore in different banks.

The Mumbai Police EOW had earlier identified vast tracts of land near the Juhu beach worth around Rs2,500 crore, a five-star hotel in Amritsar and land in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as those belonging to Singh. The EOW had also frozen a couple of demat accounts belonging to Singh, which had investment worth Rs100 crore in stocks.