ED Attaches Real Estate Firm's Assets Worth Over Rs 31 Crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties worth over Rs 31 crore belonging to Pushpanjali Realms and Infratech Limited and the wife of the real estate firm's director Rajpal Walia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged at the Rajpur police station in the city in July 2020 against the firm, its directors and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for cheating and duping innocent flat buyers after taking advance payments from them for booking flats in respect of the company's construction projects, agency sources here said.

It was found during the investigation that the advance booking amount received from the flat buyers was diverted by the directors of the company for other purposes and invested in buying properties in their own names and those of their family members, the sources said.

Funds to the tune of Rs 31.15 crore are involved in the matter, they added.

Accordingly, immovable properties worth Rs 31.15 crore in the form of land belonging to the company and a residential house and a flat belonging to Walia, which were transferred to his wife, were attached under the provisions of the PMLA, the sources said.

Further investigation in the case is in progress.