The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has attached four properties, including land and a school building, of the promoters of a Pune-based education group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The action is part of a probe into an alleged bank loan fraud against a cooperative bank in Pune. The attached assets belong to Rosary Education Group and its main partners Vinay Aranha and Vivek Aranha. A provisional order for attaching four properties has been issued under the PMLA, the agency said in a statement.

 "The present market value of the attached properties is estimated to be around Rs 98.20 crore," it said. On March 10, the ED had arrested Vinay Aranha. The money laundering case stems from a Pune Police FIR filed on the basis of a complaint made by Shivaji Vithal Kale of Cosmos Bank against Vinay Aranha and Vivek Aranha.

The complainant alleged that the accused obtained loans of Rs 20.44 crore from the bank by submitting "fake" property documents.

Vinay Aranha submitted "bogus" work invoices (in the guise of refurbishment of the Rosary schools) and got loans disbursed to bogus vendors which were immediately withdrawn in cash and handed back to Aranha (Vinay), it said.

The ED alleged that Vinay Aranha "diverted" the loans and got crores of rupees in cash. He also got loan amounts worth Rs 34 crore disbursed to Paramount Infrastructure, Shabbir Patanwala, Ashwin Kamat, Deepti Enterprises and others. "All these so-called vendors have admitted that they did not do any work and returned the cash to Aranha. Despite giving repeated opportunities, Vinay Aranha has not given any account of the utilisation of the cash," it said.

The ED found the schools of the group "did not" maintain any account of revenue, expenditure and income since 2012 and no ITRs (income tax returns) were filed.

"All this was purposefully done to enable Vinay Aranha to siphon off funds as per his whims and fancy. He admittedly splurged large amounts on celebrities and to host gala events (in the name of Vinay Aranha Foundation) for self-aggrandisement and also purchased multiple luxury cars," the ED said.

In a separate case, the ED attached immovable properties worth Rs 20.16 crore of Bengaluru-based Injaz International represented by its partners Misbahuddin S. and Suhail Ahmed Shariff money laundering charges. The accused had allegedly acquired the ‘proceeds of crime; and layered the same in the form of various immovable properties.

The ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the Wilson Garden Police Station (Bengaluru) against Injaz International and its associated group, under various sections of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, Indian Penal Code and Chit Funds Act. The ‘Proceeds of Crime’ in this case is Rs 80.99 crore.