ED arrests Raj Singh Gehlot, owner of Ambience Mall in bank fraud case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has arrested Raj Singh Gehlot, owner of Ambience Mall in a bank fraud case.

An ED official told IANS that Gehlot has been arrested from Haryana's Gurugram and will be produced before a court in Delhi later in the day.

According to ED officials the bank loan fraud case is worth Rs 200 crore.

According to financial probe agency sources, the ED has initiated a money laundering probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jammu, against Aman Hospitality Private Limited and its directors for money laundering in the construction and development of the five-star Leela Ambience Convention Hotel situated in east Delhi's Yamuna Sports Complex.

During investigation, it was revealed that a huge part of loan amount of more than Rs 800 crore, which was sanctioned by a consortium of banks for the hotel project, was siphoned off by AHPL and Gehlot and his associates through a web of companies owned or controlled by them, the ED source said.

The source further said that a substantial part of the loan money was transferred by AHPL to several companies and individuals on the pretext of "payment of running bills and advance for supply of material/work executed".

The source also said that the employees of Ambience Group and the associates of Gehlot were made directors/proprietors of these companies and he was the 'authorised signatory' in many of these companies.

"However, no material was supplied and no work was executed and almost the entire amount was immediately routed back to the entities owned by Raj Singh & Sons HUF and his brother's son. Money was further siphoned off through multiple layers by a complex web of group entities," the source added.

The ED had raided several premises linked to Gehlot and several others on July 31 last year.

Gehlot is also being probed by the CBI.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the CBI to probe the case for the alleged illegal construction of a commercial building on approximately 18.98 acres of land in Gurugram by blatantly flouting the building by-laws and statutory provisions in collusion with others.

It was alleged that the land where the Ambience Mall was built was meant for a housing project.

The CBI has registered a case against a private person, Gehlot, Ambience Ltd and Ambience Developers and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and unknown officials of HUDA, Town and Country Planning Department and unknown private persons on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The ED and CBI had carried out searches at several locations of Gehlot last year.