The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday provisionally attached movable and immovable assets consisting of land, real estate projects, commercial projects, residential houses, school, cinema hall, balances in bank accounts besides fixed deposits worth Rs 2510.82 crores of the Haryana-based SRS Group, its promoters, their family members and associate companies in a money laundering case.
The agency initiated investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act after taking cognisance of a Faridabad police FIR relating to cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery of valuable security and using forged document as genuine. While the Faridabad police had filed a chargesheet in the case, an additional FIR from the Economic Offences Wing, New Delhi was also received in the instant case.
“During PMLA investigation, it is revealed that accused Anil Jindal, Jitender Kumar Garg and Praveen Kumar Kapoor were the key promoters of SRS Group. They along with other accomplices/ associates hatched a criminal conspiracy and have lured investments from several individual and institutions on fake promises of high returns in the guise of investments in real estate units viz. shops, plots, flats, SCOs, apartments etc, “ the ED said in a statement.
These funds/investments were later siphoned off into group companies through various shell companies of the SRS Group having dummy directors who were mainly SRS Group employees.
Further they presented fake and fabricated balance sheets in order to enhance their turn-over and balance sheets, the agency said.
The Group kept investors in dark by not giving investors specific investment plans. To sustain their illegal investment schemes, they further availed loans which were used for repayments and to develop their other projects, it said.
“These schemes of investment were not prudent financial structure but only proved their mens rea and culpability and with no intention of repaying the amount invested. Investigation also revealed that movable and immovable properties have been illegally acquired in the name of various companies of SRS Group and family members of accused and being proceeds of crime these assets totalling to Rs. 2510.82 crores have been provisionally attached PMLA,” it added.