The Enforcement Directorate last week seized documents and devices, including properties worth ₹217.80 crore, in operations against Ansal API, for alleged money laundering, the Hindustan Times reported on May 3.
The Lucknow zonal unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized several incriminating documents and digital devices during search operations conducted under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited (Ansal API) case, ED officials confirmed on Saturday.
The searches were conducted on Wednesday (April 30) on five premises, including residences of Pranav Ansal (promoter- director), Deepak Movar (director) and other senior employees and at corporate offices of Ansal API across Lucknow, Ghaziabad, and New Delhi, the ED officials said.
Financial details, project-level financials of the Ansal Group, bank account details of 174 subsidiaries and group companies of Ansal API were seized, the ED officials said, sharing a press note.
The officials also said a detailed list of 62 immovable properties worth ₹217.80 crore held in the name of Pranav Ansal, his family members, and associated entities, was recovered from a mobile device seized from a searched premise.
The PMLA investigation was initiated against Ansal API and its senior management based on more than 100 FIRs registered across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab, alleging large-scale fraud, criminal breach of trust and cheating of homebuyers, the officials said.
They added that the FIRs collectively indicate a fraud involving over ₹135.51 crore, wherein investors and homebuyers were lured into projects that were either never completed or never handed over, and the collected funds were allegedly siphoned off.
“During investigation it was revealed that a significant portion of the buyers’ money was diverted and misappropriated. Despite multiple summons, the senior management failed to cooperate with the investigation and did not provide the required financial details,” a senior ED official said.