Probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday carried out searches at 22 locations linked to Mumabi-based builder Lalit Tekchandani in a money laundering case related to a housing project in Navi Mumbai. The probe agency’s raids led to the seizure of more than Rs 30 crore.
ED had initiated an investigation based on two cases registered by Taloja Police Station and Chembur Police Station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Later, it conducted searches under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the case of cheating prospective buyers of flats.
Mumbai-based builder Lalit Tekchandani was arrested on January 30 in a housing fraud case, in which the complainant had invested Rs 36 lakh in Tekchandani’s construction project at Taloja in Navi Mumbai. The construction of the project, however, got stuck a year before its deadline in 2017.
The ED investigation revealed that M/s Supreme Construction and Developer Pvt Ltd collected huge funds amounting to more than Rs 400 crore from more than 1,700 homebuyers in a housing project in Taloja, Navi Mumbai.
Delays in the project left these homebuyers in the lurch without a flat or refund. ED probe revealed that the funds received from the homebuyers were siphoned off by the builder for personal gains and the creation of assets in various names, including family members.
During searches conducted by the ED, cash of Rs 27.5 lakh and incriminating documents relating to the acquisition of huge properties in various names including family members of Tekchandani were recovered and seized.
Digital devices and other documentary evidence have also been seized during the search operation. Details of fixed deposits (FDs) worth Rs 29.73 crore have also been unearthed during the searches.
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