HYDERABAD: The sleuths of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted searches on the premises of the offices of Sallarpuria Sattva Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and froze assets in the form of bank balances of Rs 49.99 crore lying in 316 bank accounts.
The officials also seized Rs 29 lakh cash and foreign currencies whose value is being ascertained. The searches were part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged money laundering by Heera Group through layering and transferring the crime proceeds.
During the investigation of the money trail by the ED, it was revealed that Rs 41 crore of the crime proceeds have been layered and transferred to Bengaluru-based company M/s Neelanchal Technocrats Pvt Ltd which is part of Sallarpuria Sattva Group and to multiple other shell entities registered in Kolkata, Shillong under the instructions of promoters/directors of Sallarpuria Sattva Group.
The Sallarpuria Sattva Group is controlled by its promoter, director Bijay Kumar Aggarwal and its group of directors comprising Pradeep Dhandhania and Ashwin Sancheti who negotiated a real estate deal for a land parcel at Tolichowki, Hyderabad and instructed for transferring of crime proceed to shell entities.
Various other shell entities were identified during the search. It was detected during the search that these funds were rerouted back into the Sallarpuria Sattva Group companies through their group NBFC registered in Kolkata.
On further questioning during the searches, the directors of Sallarpuria Group could not explain the business rationale of these transactions and the reasons for layering the proceeds through shell entities in Kolkata and Shillong. An ED search helped in unearthing the crime proceeds transferred through multiple layers and in gathering evidence of money laundering.
