ED attaches assets valued at Rs 91.8 cr in bank fraud case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached the properties worth Rs 91.8 crore owned by Udaipur's CA Bharat Bomb, Shankar Lal Khandelwal and others in the loan fraud case reported in the erstwhile Syndicate Bank.

New Delhi:The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached movable and immovable properties valued at Rs 91.8 crore in connection with a bank fraud involving Rs 1,267 crore.

An ED official said that the agency attached the properties owned by Udaipur's CA Bharat Bomb, Shankar Lal Khandelwal and others in the loan fraud case reported in the erstwhile Syndicate Bank.

The attached assets include agricultural land, plots, shops, offices, flats, and bungalows in Jaipur, Udaipur, and Sri Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan and the money lying in bank accounts.

The ED took over the case on the basis of an FIR and charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against officials of the erstwhile Syndicate Bank (now Canara Bank) and certain private persons. It was alleged that the fraud's mastermind Bharat Bomb, an Udaipur-based Chartered Accountant, in collusion with bank officials had defrauded the bank of Rs 1,267.79 crore.

During the ED's probe into the money laundering aspect of the case, it was revealed that the proceeds of the crime were transferred by Bharat Bomb into various bank accounts through a complex maze of transactions.

"He had invested the money in the purchase of immovable properties in his name and that of his family members, associates, employees, fictitious firms and companies, and real estate projects in Udaipur," an ED official said.

The official said that such properties were held in the name of Bharat, his wife Pooja, father Shanti Lal, and accomplices Mahendra Meghwal, Vineet Jain, Pradeep Nimawat, and various entities like Rameshwaram Material Trading Company Private Limited, EWDPL, Chandigarh Hospitality Pvt Ltd, Khandelwal's company Shree Govind Kripa Buildcon Pvt Ltd, and others.

Earlier, the ED had attached properties valued at Rs 386.58 crore and announced seizure of Rs 2.25 crore in the form of a demand draft in the case. The ED had filed a charge sheet against 81 accused, including Bharat Bomb, Vineet Jain, Mahendra Meghwal, Vipul Kaushik, Khandelwal, Anoop Bartaria, Himanshu Verma, certain bank officials and others in a special PMLA court in Jaipur.

IANS report