The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached 42 properties worth Rs 18.5 crore of Vikram Seth and his family members in a bank fraud case to the tune of Rs 21 crore.
The financial probe agency in a statement said that it has attached 42 immovable properties and seven movable properties in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh totalling Rs 18.5 crore of Seth and his family members under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a bank fraud case.
The official said that the attached 42 immovable assets consist of 20 residential plots, six industrial plots, one house, three agricultural land, two brick kilns and 10 commercial plots of amounting to Rs 18.17 crore located in (Phagwara) Kapurthala and (Banga) Nawanshahar districts of Punjab and in (Amb) Una district of Himachal Pradesh.
It said seven movable properties attached include Tata Safari, Honda Jazz, and Skoda Octavia cars totalling Rs 33 lakh.
The ED had taken over the probe on the basis of the CBI FIR registered in January 2015.
The ED said that the CBI investigation revealed that Seth in connivance with other accused and officials of Bank of Baroda fraudulently got 19 loans sanctioned amounting to Rs 21.31 crore.
It said that the loan amounts were routed through various accounts of associated firms or companies and other fraudulent firms by the accused persons through a web of transactions and ultimately the amounts were siphoned off.
"Investigation revealed that Seth had routed the loan amounts through many bank accounts and after multiple layering the proceeds of crime were found to be invested in acquiring assets held in the name of his family members including his wife, son, brother and brother's wife" the ED said.
These family members did not have any legitimate source of income to acquire any such immovable assets, the ED said.
( With inputs from IANS )