ED attaches Rs78.63 cr assets of Hyd builder

PNS | Hyderabad

Enforcement  Directorate has provisionally attached immovable and movable assets worth Rs 78.63 crore, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) including properties worth Rs 37.58 crore of a Hyderabad-based firm M/s SA Builders & Developers wherein Syed Akhtar is a partner and bank balance of Rs  41.05 crore of a Bengaluru-based builder M/s Neelanchal Technocrats Pvt Ltd of Sallarpuria Group was al;so seized.

In 2018, the ED had registered a money laundering case against Nowhera Sheik and others who had collected more than Rs 5,000 crore from public as investment against a false promise of unreasonably high 36% annual return on investment, but failed to repay even the principal amounts and thus duped thousands of innocent investors.

Upon investigation, ED found that Nowhera Sheik and her Heera Group of companies had transferred Rs 148 crore (approx.) to one M/s SA Builders and Developers for purchasing properties situated at Tolichowki, Hyderabad but properties only worth Rs 70 crore (approx.) were actually registered which were earlier attached in the hands of Heera Group. The remaining funds of Rs 78 crore which were part of crime proceeds were found to be parked with the M/s SA Builders and Developers.

Further investigation by ED revealed that SA Builders and Developers had transferred Rs 41 crore out of Rs 78 crore to M/s Neelanchal Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. and four other Shell entities in Kolkata and Shillong and the funds were ultimately routed back to Sallarpuria Sattva group as loans.