ED seizes and freezes ₹33 crore assets of Vatika promoters in home buyers ‘fraud’ case | Today’s news
The Enforcement Directorate said Thursday it had seized and frozen assets worth ₹33 crore following searches against the promoters of a Gurugram-based real estate company in a money laundering probe in the homebuyer “scam” case.
Raids were conducted at seven residential and official premises associated with the promoter-directors of Vatika Ltd. in Delhi-NCR, the central agency said in a statement.
Apart from obtaining the documents, the ED has seized and frozen three luxury vehicles, jewelery and bank accounts and securities worth ₹33 crore during inspections, it said.
The ED registered its case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognizance of several FIRs registered by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. The EOW has booked the promoters of the company – Anil Bhalla, Gautam Bhalla and Gaurav Bhalla – and others on charges of fraudulent inducement, non-delivery of residential plots and other related offences.
Prima facie, a common pattern was found in transactions related to projects like ‘Vatika India Next’ and ‘Vatika India Next-2’ where ‘significant’ sums were received in advance from the complainants for allotment and sale of residential plots. However, a “significant” portion of the promised land was not delivered even after several deadlines, the ED said.
O ₹Between 2010 and 2012, 260.30 million crowns were received from victims and land worth ₹$120 million was delivered, he said.
“However, the remaining plots have not been delivered even after 14 years, despite several attempts by the aggrieved entities to get them,” the ED said.
The accused in the same projects also sold 14 plots of land “surreptitiously” to third parties without obtaining proper consent from the aggrieved company, the agency said.
