HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad zonal office of the Directorate of Enforcement has restituted properties worth over Rs 6,000 crore to the victims of Ponzi schemes launched by Agri Gold group of companies. The market value of the properties at the time they were attached was calculated at Rs 3,339 crore.
In December 2024, the ED filed a restitution application under Section 8(8) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, before the special court (PMLA) of the metropolitan sessions judge, Hyderabad, for release of movable and immovable properties attached by it to the Crime Investigation Department, Andhra Pradesh, so that the seized assets could be restituted to the victims of Agri Gold Ponzi schemes under the provisions of the AP Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments Act, 1999.
The judge allowed the restitution petition filed by ED on February 21, 2025.
The restituted properties include more than 2,300 parcels of agricultural land, residential/commercial plots, apartments as well as “Haailand”, an amusement park situated at Chinnakakani of Guntur district in AP. Of the 2,310 immovable properties attached, 2,254 are in AP, 43 in Telangana, 11 in Karnataka and two in Odisha.
The ED initiated an investigation against Agri Gold in 2018 on the basis of several FIRs registered in AP, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar. The group had collected deposits from around 19 lakh customers and 32 lakh account holders in the name of real estate investment with a promise of high returns or a residential plot.
The ED investigation revealed that Agri Gold ran fraudulent schemes in the guise of real estate business, for which more than 130 companies were floated. These companies used to collect deposits as ‘advances for plots’ from depositors, without commensurate land being available with the group. By adhering to this business model, the accused lured lakhs of gullible persons and got deposits from them.
These funds were thereafter diverted to various industries like power/energy, dairy, entertainment, health (ayurvedic), farmland ventures, etc., without the knowledge of the depositors and the companies defaulted in returning the deposits either in cash or in kind as agreed upon.
Thousands of commission agents were engaged by the group to lure people, managing to collect around Rs 6,380 crore from more than 32 lakh investor accounts.
During the course of the PMLA investigation, the ED attached properties worth around Rs 4,141.2 crore and also arrested Avva Venkata Rama Rao, Avva Venkata Seshu Narayana Rao and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad in December 2020 and filed a prosecution complaint against 14 accused persons.