New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Mumbai zonal office announced on Wednesday the attachment of movable and immovable properties worth Rs 35.22 crore in a case involving Suumaya Group and others.
These properties include movable assets such as bank balances, demat holdings, and mutual funds, along with two immovable properties.
The ED initiated its investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered by the Worli police station against various persons and entities, including Suumaya Industries Ltd and its promoters. They are accused of conspiring to embezzle about Rs 137 crore by falsely promising benefits under a future ‘Need to Feed’ programme.
The ED investigation further revealed that the Suumaya group and its associates fabricated a bogus Haryana government contract under the ‘Need to Feed’ programme to secure funds and trade financing.
This scheme was used to convert and project non-existent business operations as genuine turnover. Investigation shows, ED said, that funds received by Suumaya group entities were diverted by promoter Ushik Gala to dummy agro trader entities in Delhi and Haryana through an agent, falsely depicting genuine procurement.
No actual agro purchases took place, ED alleged. The diverted funds were routed back to Ushik Gala through a combination of cash and RTGS transactions from other shell entities.
Suumaya generated fake invoices and lorry receipts to simulate large-scale trade, resulting in circular transactions totalling Rs. 5,000 crore, of which only about 10% were genuine. These circular transactions artificially inflated the turnover of the involved entities.
This manipulation caused Suumaya’s turnover to surge from Rs 210 crore to Rs 6,700 crore over two years, leading to an astronomical rise in its share price and presenting a misleading picture to investors in its listed group entities.
Earlier in the investigation, the ED conducted search operations at 19 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurgaon. During these searches, the agency seized movable assets worth Rs. 3.9 crore and a large volume of financial, digital, and documentary evidence related to money laundering and fund diversion.
During the investigation, the ED arrested Ushik Gala, promoter of the Suumaya Group of companies.
