The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties, including a villa at Aamby Valley, various residential and business premises in Mumbai, land parcels in Raigarh District, and fixed deposits amounting to Rs. 113.5 crore linked to builder Lalit Tekchandani and his associates in a money laundering case. Earlier, the ED froze/seized investments and fixed deposits worth Rs 43 crore in this case.
Tekchandani, an influential businessman close to many senior politicians and RSS functionaries, had contributed to the construction of a hospital in Nagpur. Recently, he landed in controversy after several buyers of flats at his project in Navi Mumbai alleged that he had cheated them.
The affected home buyers filed police cases against him at the Taloja and Chembur Police Stations, based on which the ED registered a money laundering case against him. The ED arrested Tekchandani on March 18, and he is presently under judicial custody.
During the investigation, the ED found that Supreme Construction & Developer collected huge funds of more than Rs. 400 Crore from more than 1,700 homebuyers for a housing project in Taloja, Navi Mumbai. Delays in the project left these homebuyers in the lurch without a flat or refund.
The ED discovered that the funds received from the homebuyers were laundered by Tekchandani for personal gains and the creation of assets in various names, including those of family members. The ED investigation has revealed that Tekchandani alienated the properties of Supreme Construction and Developers despite his exit from the ownership and directorship of the company, with the assistance of other accused persons.
The investigation has also revealed that accused persons were transferring the receivables of the company into the account of an associate entity, thereby siphoning off the funds, said the ED in a press release on Thursday.