ED attaches assets created by 'gobbling up Alliance varsity student fees'

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached Rs 19.43 crore worth of assets belonging to five people associated with the privately run Alliance University over suspected money laundering. 

The assets are in the form of bank accounts, six flats and two pieces of land, and belong to former vice-chancellor of Alliance University Madhukar G Angur, Priyanka M Angur, Ravi Kumar K, Shruthi and Pavana Dibbur. 

The central agency attached the assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, after carrying out an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Bengaluru police against Madhukar and his associates. 

According to the ED, its investigation showed that Madhukar had asked the parents of students to deposit the fees in bank accounts illegally opened in the name of Srivari Educational Services. 

The ED said that around 4,500 students were persuaded to deposit nearly Rs 107 crore in fees in these illegally opened bank accounts. The deposited amount was siphoned off by Madhukar and others in 2016 and 2017 in the name of tuition, hostel and other fees, the ED stated. 

Huge sums of money were then transferred from M/s Srivari Educational Services' bank account to the personal bank accounts of Madhukar, Priyanka, Ravi, Shruthi. The money was later withdrawn and utilised for personal benefits, the ED added.