A special PMLA court in Madhya Pradesh has convicted the managing director of a Bhopal-based real estate company under the anti-money laundering law in a case linked to cheating homebuyers by promising them plots in a residential project, the agency said Thursday.
Ramakant Vijayvargiya, the MD of Distinct Infrastructure Ltd., has been sentenced to undergo a rigorous imprisonment of five years as stipulated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the company and the promoter have also been fined Rs 50,000 each, it said.
The judgement was pronounced by the court, located in state capital Bhopal, on Wednesday after charges were framed in the case on June 3, the federal agency said in a statement.
The ED case of money laundering stems from a June, 2010 FIR filed by the Bhopal Police against Distinct Infrastructure Ltd (DIL), its MD Ramakant Vijayavargiya and a linked company Distinct Infrastructure Ltd. The money laundering chargesheet was filed against the accused in March, 2015.
Probe found, the agency said, that Distinct Infrastructure Ltd through its MD Ramakant Vijayavargiya “cheated” people by selling plots in a colony named ‘Panchavati Enclave’ at Bhopal.
“The company made agreements with farmers of Bhopal for purchasing their land and developing the same into a residential colony,” it said.
Subsequent to the agreement drawn, Vijayvargiya “forged” an outlay of the colony, proposed to be built on the said piece of land, without actually having the ownership and possession of the land and without securing government sanctions required for the development of the colony, it said.
He sold the plots to various persons by “falsely” claiming that DIL had the approval of Town & Country planning, Bhopal for the said colony, the ED said.
He, thus, sold 243 plots of the said colony for a consideration of Rs 16.60 crore, it said.
These plots were sold during 2005-2009 and the ED found that the money earned from the sale was invested in two immovable properties, purchased in the name of Distinct Infrastructure Ltd.
These two properties, valued at Rs 39.89 lakh, was attached by the ED in March, 2013. The court, in the same judgement, also ordered for confiscation of these assets by the ED, it said.