The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested M3M director Roop Kumar Bansal, eight days after it carried out searches at the premises of the real estate developer and IREO Group in a money laundering case.

It is learnt that Bansal was called for questioning last night and placed under arrest after he evaded queries based on incriminating evidence that emerged during searches at seven locations in Delhi and Gurugram on June 1.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Haryana has booked Panchkula-based Special Judge Sudhir Parmar on charges of allegedly favouring M3M and IREO Group in the same case he was hearing.

Also read: Delhi realtor M3M India eyes other cities

Parmar had sought “undue advantage” from Roop Bansal, his brother Basant Bansal, the owners of M3M, and Lalit Goyal, proprietor of IREO Group, the FIR registered by ACB on May 17 said. The ACB has included Whatsapp conversations among the accused in the FIR, which states that one of the alleged “favours” sought was a job for his relative. The ACB booked the judge and the Goyals under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and for criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.

The ED probe showed that the M3M group received about Rs 400 crore from IREO Group through several shell companies. The five shell companies then transferred the said amounts to M3M Group through multiple shell companies and layers. All the shell companies were owned and operated by the M3M Group under the direction of its promoters, Basant Bansal and Roop Kumar Bansal, and his family members. In this way, IREO and M3M siphoned off about Rs 400 crore belonging to investors/ customers and the proceeds of crime remained with M3M Group, which was used for other investments/ paying off liabilities,” the ED earlier said in an official statement issued on June 5.

The IREO Group, the ED said did not make any effort to develop the land and wrote-off investments every year.

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