Assets of Ahmed Patel's son-in-law, Dino Morea, DJ Aqeel attached under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel's son-in-law, actors Dino Morea and Sanjay Khan and DJ Aqeel in a money laundering case involving Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech group.

It said a provisional order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the assets of the four people which are worth Rs 8.79 crore.

Out of this, the value of attachment of assets for Khan is Rs 3 crore, for Dino Morea it is Rs 1.4 crore, for Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali, popularly known as DJ Aqeel, it is Rs 1.98 crore and for Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui, who is Patel’s son-in-law, it is Rs 2.41 crore, the central probe agency said in a statement.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara, absconding promoters of the Sterling Biotech group, have "diverted" proceeds of crime to the four people.

The promoter brothers Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Chetan's wife Dipti Sandesara and Hitesh Patel have been declared fugitive economic offenders by a special court, it said.

The money-laundering case pertains to the alleged Rs 14,500-crore bank-loan fraud said to have been perpetrated by Sterling Biotech and its main promoters and directors.