ED's Kolkata zonal workplace performed the searches on the premises of suspects situated at Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad and Lucknow; Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar; and Maharashtra's Mumbai on August 11 beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
“Entities searched have been associated to varied land and share transactions with entities of the Sahara group,” mentioned the ED in a press release.
ED initiated an investigation based mostly on three First Info Studies (FIRs) registered beneath Sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, towards Humara India Credit score Cooperative Society Ltd (HICCSL) and others by police in Odisha, Bihar, and Rajasthan.
Over 500 FIRs have been registered towards numerous Sahara Group entities, with greater than 300 involving scheduled offences beneath the PMLA, alleging large-scale dishonest of depositors via pressured redeposits and denial of maturity funds.
ED investigation revealed that “Sahara group was working a Ponzi scheme via entities like HICCSL, SCCSL, SUMCS, SMCSL, SICCL, SIRECL, SHICL, and others by luring depositors and brokers with guarantees of excessive returns and commissions.”
“The funds have been managed in an unregulated method with out depositor oversight, maturity proceeds weren't repaid, as an alternative reinvested beneath coercion or misrepresentation, and books have been manipulated to camouflage such non-repayments,” mentioned the federal company.
Regardless of monetary incapacity, ED acknowledged that the group continued to gather recent deposits, a part of which was “siphoned off for doubtful share transactions, creation of benami property and private bills.”
“Property of the group have been additionally offered for partial money funds, additional denying rightful claims of depositors. Through the search, incriminating paperwork and information have been seized and statements of key individuals have been recorded,” it additional identified.
Earlier, the company mentioned, three provisional attachment orders within the immediate case have been issued attaching 707 acres of land having approximate market worth of Rs 1,460 crore in Amby Valley; 1,023 acres of land having approximate worth of Rs 1,538 crore in Sahara Prime Metropolis Ltd and movable property of Chandni Roy, spouse of Seemanto Roy, price Rs 14.75 crore.
Additional, ED had earlier arrested Anil Vailaparampil Abraham, Government Director of the Sahara group chairman's Core Administration (CCM) Workplace, and Jitendra Prasad Verma, a long-time affiliate and property dealer of the Sahara group. They continue to be in judicial custody.
