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Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized gold and diamond jewellery worth ₹2.72 crore, ₹41 alkh cash, 4 high-end cars, digital devices and various incriminating documents during searches at ten locations associated with Pune-based Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank fraud.
The ED in a statement said that their teams faced stiff resistance during January 27 searches at premises of Amar Mulchandani, ex-Chairman of Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank, and addresses linked to Vinay Aranha of Rosary School Pune and Sagar Suryawanshi in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad of Maharashtra. All of them are alleged to have benefitted from this scam, said ED.
“At the residence of Amar Mulchandani, the ED team accompanied by Bank panchas (representatives) and CRPF faced stiff resistance. ED team was given to understand that Amar Mulchandani was absent, and the remaining five family members of Amar lied and tried to mislead the search team,” the agency said in a statement.
All the family members as part of a well planned conspiracy had obstructed the lawful search of ED and this time was used by Amar Mulchandani to erase his phones to destroy evidence, the agency said. “It was subsequently found that he was hiding in a room locked from inside at the same premises,” the ED elaborated.
As a result, on the complaint of ED, local police booked all the 6 residents under various sections of Indian Penal Code. All of them -- Amar Mulchandani, Ashok Mulchandani, Manohar Mulchandani, Daya Mulchandani, Sadhna Mulchandani and Sagar Mulchandani -- were arrested on the conclusion of the search proceedings of ED. They have been remanded to judicial custody.
The ED initiated money laundering investigation based on the predicate FIR registered at Vimantal PS, Pune, against Vinay Aranha of Rosary Education Group and others for indulging in bank loan fraud. Subsequently, an audit of the entire Seva Vikas Coop Bank was carried out unravelling alleged “gross fraud and misappropriation of ₹429.6 crore spread across 126 NPA Loan accounts”. Based on this audit report, multiple FIRs were registered against the loan beneficiaries and bank management, including its ex-Chairman Amar Mulchandani.
The agency charged that “Board of Directors led by Amar Mulchandani had violated all banking norms and deliberately sanctioned loans to ineligible/shell entities to siphon off the funds”. The Reserve Bank of India has also cancelled the bank’s license.
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