New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 70 crore of three firms, including a company linked to an IPL cricket team promoted by actor Shah Rukh Khan, in connection with a money-laundering probe in the Rose Valley ponzi scam case, the agency said on Monday.
The three firms are Multiple Resorts Pvt Ltd, St Xavier's College, Kolkata, and Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd.
The agency said in a statement that "movable and immovable properties belonging to various entities and individuals who received funds from Rose Valley group and related entities having book value of Rs 70.11 crore have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)".
The bank accounts of the three firms that have been attached total Rs 16.20 crore.
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Besides, 24 acres of land at Ramnagar and Mahishdal in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, a flat at Dilkap Chambers, Mumbai, an acre of land at Jyoti Basu Nagar in Kolkata's New Town and a hotel of the Rose Valley group have also been attached as part of the latest order, it said.
The Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd owns the 'Kolkata Knight Riders' Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team and its directors include actor Shah Rukh Khan's wife Gauri Khan as well as Jay Mehta, actor Juhi Chawla's husband.
Rose Valley Scam:
The Rose Valley financial scandal is a major scam caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Rose Valley Group. The scam allegedly involves several key leaders from the Trinamool Congress.
The ED registered an FIR against the firm, its Chairman Gautam Kundu and others in 2014 under the PMLA. Kundu was arrested by the agency in Kolkata in 2015.
Multiple charge sheets have been filed in the courts in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar by the ED in this case.
The probe found that the business group "collected more than Rs 17,520 crore from public throughout the country by luring depositors with false promises of high returns and interest on their deposits. Out of the total, an amount of Rs 10,850 crore was refunded and remaining Rs 6,670 crore still unpaid that constitutes the proceeds of crime", the ED said.
(With inputs from PTI & ANI)
