ED Seizes Assets Worth Rs 124 Crore In Religare Finvest Probe

The Enforcement Directorate announced on Tuesday that it has seized assets valued at over Rs 124 crore belonging to various companies as part of a money laundering probe involving Religare Finvest (RFL) and others. These assets, provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), consist of land and farmhouses located in upscale areas of Gurugram and Delhi, owned by RS Infrastructure, Kenwood Mercantile, M/s Goodfaith Builders and others, according to a statement by the central agency.

Kenwood Mercantile and Goodfaith Builders are entities affiliated with the M3M group, a real estate company based in Gurugram. The assets include 430 acres of land in Gurugram and Faridabad owned by these entities, which the agency alleges are proceeds of crime channeled through various companies to the M3M group.

The agency accuses a partnership firm named M3M India Holdings, with partners Roop Kumar Bansal, Basant Bansal, Abha Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, of receiving proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 500 crore by overvaluing the sale of shares of landholding company RS Infrastructure at Rs 726 crore to Lowe Realty (now Lowe Infra and Wellness). RS Infrastructure's land was allegedly inflated by M3M India Holdings, its former shareholder, to siphon off substantial funds from Lowe Realty, which had borrowed the same amount from the Religare group, according to the agency.

The ED has filed three charge sheets in this case so far and has previously frozen assets to "attach the proceeds of crime originating from the corporate loan book fraud of Religare Finvest." In 2020 and 2021, assets worth Rs 54 crore and USD 1,50,00,000 belonging to RS Infrastructure and Malvinder Mohan Singh were attached. The attached properties in India include land and farmhouses, while assets attached in foreign jurisdictions include an insurance policy of AXA China Insurance Company (Bermuda) owned by Malvinder Mohan Singh, former promoter of the Religare group, the statement added.