New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, announced on Friday that it has successfully completed the restitution process of five attached immovable properties, valued at Rs 2.55 crore (as per the FIR date of 19.10.2011), to the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The properties were attached during a PMLA investigation into the case of Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels and its Managing Partner, Sanjay Agarwal. The immovable properties restored by the Court include a plot and agricultural lands located in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy and Medak districts. The present market value of these restituted properties is Rs 16 crore.
The ED initiated its PMLA probe based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ghanshyamdas Gems & Jewels and its partners. They were accused of fraudulently inducing the State Bank of India (SBI) to release 250 kg of gold by submitting forged bank guarantees purportedly issued by PNB.
The ED investigation revealed that once the fraud became public, Sanjay Agarwal and his brothers, Ajay Kumar and Vinay Kumar, removed the entire mortgaged gold stock from their shop in Abids, Hyderabad, and sold it for cash in the local market.
The proceeds of crime were subsequently invested in a new firm opened by Sanjay Agarwal in December 2012 under his wife’s name. Later, he opened three more firms in the names of his brothers and an employee. Substantial unexplained cash deposits were found in multiple bank accounts held by his family members and firms under his control.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that Sanjay Agarwal had obtained a passport under the fake identity ‘Srikanth Gupta,’ travelled abroad several times, and opened multiple bank accounts to layer his illicit funds. The money trail also led to a benami property acquired in the name of one of his employees, Avinash Soni.
Earlier, the ED had arrested Sanjay Agarwal on February 11, 2022, and provisionally attached nine immovable properties belonging to him, his family members, and benamis. A Prosecution Complaint in the case was filed by the ED on April 11, 2022, before the Hon’ble Special PMLA Court in Nampally, Hyderabad.
PNB was urged to file a restitution application under Section 8(8) of the PMLA before the same court. The ED conveyed its concurrence for the restitution of the attached immovable properties so they could be restored to the fraud victim, PNB.
The Special PMLA Court in Nampally, Hyderabad, has now allowed the restitution petition filed by PNB, paving the way for the restoration of the attached assets.
