UP: ED seizes Rs 1.02 crore cash, documents in Ponzi case searches

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has seized Rs 1.02 crore in cash after it conducted searches at multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh in an alleged Ponzi scheme linked money laundering case against Kalpataru Group of companies.

The raids were undertaken on Wednesday at 16 premises in Agra, Mathura and Noida against Mithilesh Singh, the wife of the "main accused" late Jai Kishan Rana, his close associates, Chartered Accountants, brokers and some agents.

The federal agency claimed in a statement that "thousands of people" were cheated in the name of "high-value returns" on their investments or in the name of providing them lands and plots in lieu of their investments.

The business group could not be contacted for a comment.

The money laundering case stems from as many as 74 FIRs registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police against the directors, promoters, agents and managers of Kalptaaru group companies.

The company "defrauded" gullible investors and collected "huge money" in lieu of high returns and by promising lands/plots after the maturity period. Various immovable properties acquired by the company and the accused at various locations of UP were identified and assets worth Rs 84 crore have been provisionally attached, it said.

The total "proceeds of crime" estimated by the ED in the case is Rs 681 crore.

The agency said "unexplained" cash of Rs 1.02 crore, sale deeds and documents of 88 immovable properties and digital and electronic "evidence" of hundreds of properties were seized during the searches.

The agency filed a chargesheet in this case in September before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ghaziabad.