ED grills Hiranandani in Fema case
The Enforcement Directorate has questioned Niranjan Hiranandani, the promoter of prominent Mumbai-based realty company Hiranandani Group, in a foreign exchange violation case.
Niranjan Hiranandani and his son Darshan were asked to join the investigation by the Central agency at its office in Mumbai as part of a probe being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), official sources said on Monday.
Darshan Hiranandani has been living in Dubai for the past several years. About four premises of the group in and around Mumbai were searched by the Central financial probe agency last month.
The realty group, established in 1978, has developed office and residential projects in Powai in central Mumbai and neighbouring Thane. Apart from some foreign transactions, the agency is stated to be probing into the beneficiaries of a British Virgin Islandsbased trust allegedly linked to the Hiranandani Group's promoters.
The group has said it will cooperate with the ED in the investigation.
Sources also said the ED probe is not linked to another Fema investigation being conducted against TMC leader Mahua Moitra, who was recently expelled as a Lok Sabha MP.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Ms Moitra of asking questions in the Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.
Ms Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she was being targeted as she had raised questions on the deals of the Adani Group.