ED freezes deposits worth Rs 7.5 crore after raids against Maharashtra co-op

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate Monday said it has seized financial investments worth Rs 7 crore following fresh searches against a Maharashtra-based cooperative society that is alleged to have duped numerous investors.

The raids were conducted on September 20-21 at Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Delhi as part of an ongoing probe against Dnyanraddha Multistate Co-operative Society Ltd. (DMCSL), its promoter Suresh Kute and others, the agency said in a statement.

The money laundering case of the ED stems from a clutch of FIRs filed by the Maharashtra Police for an alleged fraud committed by Suresh Kute and others through the cooperative society.

The agency said the tentative amount of the "fraud" with investors in this case is Rs 168 crore.

DMCSL was "managed and controlled" by Suresh Dnyanobarao Kute, Yashvant V Kulkarni and others and it "floated deposit schemes to lure gullible investors by promising high returns ranging from 12-14 per cent", it said.

"The investors were cheated and their funds were embezzled by the management of the society for their personal gains by hatching a criminal conspiracy.

"Suresh Kute, in connivance with Dibyayan Das Sharma, had fabricated false documents showing a structured investment allegedly promising funding of Rs 10,000 crore over five years from Minventa Research, Luxembourg, through the securitization of the Kute Group's assets.

"Fraudulent documents related to this scheme were also distributed among investors of DMCSL to prevent them from pursuing legal action against Suresh Kute and others, with the false assurance that all investors of DMCSL would be repaid," the ED said.

These fabricated documents were also used for submission before various judicial fora, including a high court and NCLT in an attempt to mislead the authorities and to present the Kute Group as financially solvent, it claimed.

Bank funds, fixed deposits, and demat account holdings of Rs 7.5 crore were frozen, apart from the seizure of "incriminating" documents and digital devices, the ED said.

The agency had undertaken raids in this case in August and frozen assets worth Rs 1.73 crore then.