ED attachment of properties worth Rs 74.16 crore of Shine City group in PMLA case, ET RealEstate

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LUCKNOW: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally seized properties worth Rs 74.16 crore in the Shine City Group money laundering case, the agency said on Tuesday.

According to an official release, the attached properties include 24 plots of agricultural land worth Rs. 47.80 crore held in the name of Bhagwati Prasad, located in Mohanlalganj Lucknow; 6 residential plots worth Rs.16.5 Crore held in the name of Shine City Colonizers Pvt. Ltd based in Barabanki Uttar Pradesh; 1 Commercial plot and 4 Commercial spaces worth Rs. 9.27 Crore in “Springdale” project in Rewari, Haryana, developed by Vardhaman Buildtech Pvt Ltd (promoter Vivek Gupta) and 03 agricultural land plots worth Rs 0.57 Crore in the name of Durga Prasad in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh.

These properties were purchased/developed using the money raised from investors and layered and diverted by the Shine City promoters, according to the agency’s official press release.

ED initiated investigation on the basis of around 554 FIRs registered by Uttar Pradesh Police against Rasheed Naseem and Shine City Group of Companies.

The ED investigation has revealed that the accused, associates and promoters have established several companies and collected money from public in the Ponzi pyramid scheme under the guise of investments in real estate sector and other attractive schemes.

The ED investigation identified the fund trail and found that the money collected from the customers was being layered, transferred and diverted to close associates of the group. Bhagwati Prasad, Vivek Gupta and Durga Prasad are such close collaborators.

The funds thus diverted were used by them for purchasing land, commercial spaces and developing commercial real estate projects. Consequently, the poor investors never got the return on their investment or promised land/plots.

Earlier, ED had conducted searches at 18 locations in Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Mumbai and Delhi and recovered/seized several digital devices, incriminating documents related to money laundering and details of properties that were proceeds of crime. said.

ED had arrested and interrogated eight suspects namely Ms Shashi Bala, Abhishek Singh, Durga Prasad, Udhaw Singh, Ashif Naseem, Amitabh Srivastava, Ms Meera Srivastava and Himanshu Kumar. So far, 05 PCs have been filed and a total of 8 individuals, 13 companies and 9 partnership firms have been accused.

The Hon’ble Special Court has taken note of all the PCs filed so far and the trial has begun. The amount of total attachment made so far in this case is Rs 263.55 crore (approximately).

Further investigation is on, the ED added.