Sandesara Group case: ED provisionally attaches Rs 8.79 Cr worth assets under PMLA

Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached movable & immovable properties worth Rs. 8.79 Crore under PMLA in Sandesara Group case. With this, the overall assets attached in the case has touched Rs 14,521.80 Crore.

Mumbai (Maharashtra):Actors' Dino Morea, Sanjay Khan and Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali's (DJ Aqueel) assets have been attached in the case pertaining to Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech Group in a money laundering case. Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara are the promoters of Sterling Group. On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached properties (movable & immovable) worth Rs.8.79 Crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the Sandesara Group case. With this, the overall assets attached in the case has touched Rs 14,521.80 Crore.

The ED attached assets belonging to Sanjay Khan (Rs 3 Crore), Dino Morea (Rs 1.40 Crore), Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali (Rs 1.98 Crore) and Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui (Rs 2.41 Crore). Also, four separate provisional attachment orders under Section 5 of the PMLA have been issued in this regard. The law enforcement and economic intelligence agency had launched an investigation under PMLA based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Delhi for cheating several public sector banks.

ED Press Release Statement

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In the investigation, it was revealed that the Sandesaras had diverted proceeds of crime of Rs 3 Crores, Rs 1.4 Crores, Rs 12.54 Crores and Rs 3.51 Crores to Sanjay Khan, Dino Morea, Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali and Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui respectively. Earlier, the ED had attached assets to the tune of Rs 14,513 crore vide 08 provisional attachment orders in connection with the case. With this, the overall assets attached in the case has touched Rs 14,521.80 Crore and the total proceeds of crime in the case is more than Rs 16000 crore.

To date, one prosecution complaint along with four supplementary complaints have been filed and four arrests were made by the ED. Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Chetan's wife Dipti Sandesara, and Hitesh Patel have been declared fugitives by a Special Court and an investigation is underway.

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