The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable properties spanning 88.29 acres and valued at Rs 300.11 crore belonging to M3M India Infrastructures Private Ltd in connection with an alleged money laundering case, the agency said in a release on Friday.
According to the release, the properties attached are in the form of land parcels located in Basharia village in Haryana’s Gurugram.
The ED initiated the investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, based on allegations against Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then Chief Minister of Haryana; Trilok Chand Gupta, then Director of DTCP; R S Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (RSIPL); and 14 other colonizer companies, the agency said in its release.
The alleged case involves cheating various landowners, the public at large, the state of Haryana, and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) by getting issued notifications under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act), and subsequently under section 6 of the LA Act for the acquisition of lands of respective landowners, which compelled landowners to sell their land to said colonizer companies at a lower price than the prevailing price before the notification under section 4 of the LA Act, the agency said.
The accused allegedly, fraudulently, and dishonestly obtained Letters of Intent (LOIs) and licenses on the notified land, causing loss to the respective landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana and HUDA, while wrongfully gaining for themselves, the ED said in its release.
The ED investigation revealed that RSIPL, a company beneficially owned by Basant Bansal and Roop Bansal, promoters of the M3M group, allegedly colluded with the persons mentioned in the FIR and unlawfully got approved licenses for land measuring 10.35 acres for establishing a commercial colony by classifying their case as “a case of extreme hardship” without legal basis.
Upon securing licenses to establish a commercial colony, the promoters of RSIPL allegedly did not develop a commercial colony, which was a precondition for obtaining the licenses. Later on, they reportedly sold the company’s shares and assets, including the said licensed land, for a staggering sum of Rs 726 crore to Lowe Realty Private Limited, an associated entity of the Religare Group, the ED said in its release.
This alleged activity of obtaining the licenses illegally has resulted in the generation of Proceeds of Crime (PoC) to the tune of Rs 300.15 crore, which were subsequently allegedly diverted from RSIPL to the promoters of the firm into their bank accounts and to the bank accounts of their family members and subsequently utilized for operational and business expenses of M3M group companies, the federal financial probe agency added in its release.
With Inputs From ANI
