Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate attaches properties in PMLA, red sanders smuggling case

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth more than Rs 7.54 crore belonging to R Selvaraj and his family under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a red sanders smuggling case.

The assets include eight residential plots in Aathoor and Pudhu Erumaivettipalayam, Red Hills, Tamil Nadu, half a dozen plots of farmland in Vallakottai, Sriperumbudur, and two house properties in Venus Colony, Chennai, and Krishna Nagar, Saram revenue village, Puducherry, along with movable properties of Rs 2.07 crore assets of Sanjana Metalware India Pvt Ltd. The ED initiated money laundering investigations on the basis of an FIR filed by the AP police and the Commissionerate of Customs, Chennai.

Subsequently, the charge-sheet and prosecution complaint were filed by the AP police and prosecution wing of Chennai Customs respectively, against Selvaraj and others before the competent courts in Chittoor (AP) and Chennai. He was detained under Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) and has been charged with contravention of Section 135, 132 of Customs Act and Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Biodiversity Act 2002, and Arms Act.

Investigation by ED revealed that Selvaraj was a habitual offender indulging in unlawful activities related to smuggling of red sanders and sandalwood and other criminal activities and earned over the years. He invested in immovable properties and as paid-up capital, unsecured loans in his related company SM IPL. This was done to layer the proceeds of crime and to claim them as untainted assets.

Investigation established that the assets were illegally acquired from the proceeds of smuggling of red sanders and sandalwood and other criminal activities. Accordingly, they have been attached under PMLA. The total proceeds of crime acquired by the accused in the case was Rs 2.74 crore. The ED attached properties with book value of Rs 2.74 crore. The market value of the assets is approximately Rs 7.54 crore.