Unitech case: ED provisionally attaches land worth over Rs 125 crore

The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached land worth Rs 125.06 crore belonging to Unitech Infopark Limited in connection with its probe into money laundering allegations arising out of complaints from home buyers of the Unitech group, officials said Monday.

The ED has provisionally attached 39.83 per cent share of 4.79 acres of land that forms part of the Uniworld City township at Nallambakkam in Chennai.

"The value of the land attached is Rs 125.06 crore. The said land is owned by Unitech Infopark Limited in which 39.83 per cent shares are held by Narnil Infosolutions Private Limited (a benami company of the Chandras, the promoters of Unitech Group)," the ED said in a statement.

The action is part of an investigation undertaken by the ED based on cases registered by the Delhi Police and CBI on the complaints from home buyers against Unitech Group, its promoters and others, it said.

In its investigation, ED detected that the Chandras of Unitech had allegedly invested the proceeds of crime to the tune of $1.50 crore (present value Rs 125.06 crore) through Narnil Infosolutions Private Limited into Unitech Infopark Limited in 2009-10 by acquiring 39.83 per cent shares of the said company, it said.

The findings of the probe suggest that Narnil Infosolutions Private Limited is beneficially owned by the Chandras and was being controlled through their associates.

"During the course of investigation, ED had arrested five individuals namely Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra, Ramesh Chandra, Preeti Chandra and Rajesh Malik. Till now, two prosecution complaints have been filed by the ED and cognizance of the same have been taken by the PMLA Court," the Enforcement Directorate said.

So far, the ED has provisionally attached domestic and overseas assets having a total value of Rs 1,257.61 crore.

"The attachment includes assets of Carnoustie Group, Shivalik Group, Trikar Group and the assets of shell, benami and personal companies of Chandras etc. Total proceeds of crime of Rs 7612 crore has been detected till now in this case," it said.