ED attaches properties worth Rs 207cr in money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has attached properties to the tune of Rs 207 crore of Disc Assets Lead India Limited, Eagles Eye Real Estates and Meadow Realtors, and the firms' key managerial persons in connection with its money laundering probe.

The official said that attached properties include 1,081 immovable properties measuring around 3,850 acres of land located in Tamil Nadu's Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Chennai worth Rs 207 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case related to defrauding the public in the guise of investment.

The official said that these lands were registered in the names of Disc Assets Lead India Limited, Eagles Eye Real Estates, Meadow Realtors and its key managerial persons.

The ED has registered a case on the basis of the FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu Police.

In the EOW FIR, it was alleged that Disc Agrotech Limited aka Disc Asset Promoters India Limited alias Disc Asset Lead India Limited which was incorporated in the year 2006 having V. Janarthanan, N. Umashankar, N. Arun Kumar, C. Srinivasan, T. Shyamchander and S. Jeevalatha as directors, had collected money in installments from the people residing in various parts of the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, promising them lands in return.

"During the PMLA probe, it was revealed that the directors of the company had floated many other entities like Dal Marketing Solutions Private Limited and Aiyan Marketing Solutions Private Limited to collect money from the public on behalf of Disc Assets Lead India Limited to circumvent the legal impediments of the SEBI Act," the ED official said.

The official said that the company collected Rs 1,273 crore from the investors.

"During the probe, it was found that the invested amount collected from the depositors was utilised in the purchase of immovable properties in Tamil Nadu in the name of the company, its directors and other unrelated entities," the official said.

The official further said that the a major chunk of the collected amount was siphoned off by the directors of the accused company through entities which were floated by them with their close relatives as directors or partners.

He said that the accused persons had cheated its depositors by neither allotting them land nor returning their investment.

The directors or key managerial persons namely Umashankar, Arun Kumar, Janarthanan and Saravana Kumar were arrested for their involvement in money laundering probe.