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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached two immovable properties worth ₹31.50 crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case of alleged irregularities committed by Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd in redevelopment of Patra Chawl Project at Goregaon, Mumbai. The attached land parcels in Goa were held by Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Kumar Wadhawan, the two directors of Guru Ashish Construction.
ED swung into action on the basis of an FIR registered by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), Mumbai against Guru Ashish Construction, Rakesh Kumar Wadhwan, Sarang Kumar Wadhwan and others on the basis of a complaint filed by Executive Engineer, Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA), Mumbai under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Guru Ashish Construction was entrusted with the redevelopment of Patra Chawl Project for rehabilitation of 672 tenants. During the relevant time, Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, Sarang Wadhwan and others were the Directors of the company , the ED stated. A tripartite agreement signed between society, MHADA and Guru Ashish Construction, stated that the developer was to provide flats to each of 672 tenants and develop flats for the MHADA, and thereafter the remaining area to be sold by the developer, pointed out the ED.
The directors of the company allegedly misled the MHADA and sold the FSI to nine developers and collected net amount of approximately ₹901.79 crore without constructing the rehab portion for 672 displaced tenants and the MHADA portion, the ED probe revealed. Further, the company also launched one project namely ‘Meadows’ and collected the booking from of around ₹138 crore from flat buyers. “Total proceeds of crime (PoC) generated by Directors of Guru Ashish Constructions was approx. ₹1039.79 crore,” the ED charged.
Diversion of funds
During further course of investigation, it was revealed that Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan after receipt of the proceeds of crime in bank accounts of HDIL and its group companies, further diverted the funds. The accused are alleged to have “used bank accounts of HDIL and/or its group companies viz GACPL, Sapphire land Development Pvt Ltd, Satyam Realtors etc which finally reached in the personal bank accounts of Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhwan after multiple layering”.
During the period 2011-2016, the agency emphasised that the PoC of ₹38.5 crore from the account of Rakesh Wadhawan was utilized for pre-payments of the instalments against availed loan of ₹28.5 crore from India Bulls Housing Finance Ltd. The loan was availed at floating interest of 18.5 per cent for acquiring two plots of area of 1,250 square metres and 15,300 square metres in North Goa worth ₹31.50 crore during 2011, the ED charged. A payment of ₹2 crore was also made to the seller of the plots from the personal account of Sarang Wadhwan, it added.
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