The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 16 immovable properties worth Rs 137.6 crore owned by companies and individuals accused in a ponzi investment scheme.
The entities and individuals whose properties have been attached are Dreamz Infra India Ltd, TGS Constructions Pvt Ltd, Disha Choudhary, managing director (MD) of Dreamz Infra India Ltd, Mandeep Kaur, MD of TGS Constructions Pvt Ltd, and others. ED took the action on June 27.
The directorate began investigations based on more than 125 FIRs registered against Dreamz Infra India Ltd, TGS Constructions Pvt Ltd, Gruha Kalyan, Sachin Naik alias Yogesh, Disha Choudhary, Mandeep Kaur and others for cheating people since 2011 in Bengaluru.
The ED said the accused people and entities duped citizens by taking huge deposits by promising affordable apartments in and around Bengaluru.
From the year 2011-12 to 2016-17, the accused collected more than Rs 722 crore from more than 10,299 customers and misappropriated the said funds for their own benefits. They cheated customers by not handing them the flats or returning their deposits. They also threatened customers of dire consequences if they press for deposits to be returned.
The main accused Naik, Choudhary, Kaur and others have layered the depositors’ money into various bank accounts, subsequently withdrawing the same in cash and diverting to the other unrelated businesses and spending the same on their personal benefits like making Bollywood movies, investing in IPL teams, spending lavishly on personal parties, marriages, gifts, and investing in mutual funds in the name of their children, without the knowledge of depositors, ED stated.
The attached immovable properties are in the form of land and residential houses in various places in Bengaluru having present value of Rs 137.60 crore.