Court sends Ambience group promoter to judicial custody in Rs 800 cr bank loan fraud case

A Delhi court sent Ambience group promoter Raj Singh Gehlot, arrested in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 800 crore, to judicial custody after the ED said his further interrogation was not required.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday sent Ambience group promoter Raj Singh Gehlot, arrested in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 800 crore, to judicial custody after the ED said his further interrogation was not required.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana sent the accused to jail till August 21 after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) produced him before court on expiry of his custodial interrogation and moved a plea seeking his judicial custody for two weeks.

The ED case against Gehlot, who is also a promoter of the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, is based on a 2019 FIR of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Jammu against AHPL and its directors for alleged money laundering in the construction and development of the five-star Leela Ambience Convention Hotel located at 1, CBD, Maharaj Surajmal Road, near the Yamuna Sports Complex in Delhi.

The central probe agency had raided Gehlot, his company Aman Hospitality Private Limited (AHPL), some other firms of the Ambience group, director in the company Dayanand Singh, Mohan Singh Gehlot and their associates in July last year.

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The ED probe found that 'a huge part of the loan amount of more than Rs 800 crore, which was sanctioned by a consortium of banks for the hotel project, was siphoned off by AHPL, Raj Singh Gehlot and his associates through a web of companies owned and controlled by them'.

'A substantial part of the loan money was transferred by AHPL to several companies and individuals on the pretext of payment of running bills and advance for supply of material and work executed,' the agency had alleged.

The employees of the Ambience group and Gehlot's associates were made directors and proprietors in these companies and Gehlot was the 'authorised signatory' in many of these entities, it had said.

No material was supplied and no work was executed and almost the entire amount was immediately routed back to the entities owned by Raj Singh and Sons HUF (Hindu undivided family) and his brother's son, it said. 'Money was further siphoned off through multiple layers in a complex web of group entities,' the ED had said.

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PTI