Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 42 immovable properties and 7 movable properties in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh totalling to Rs 18.50 crore of Vikram Seth and his family members under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a bank fraud case. "The attached 42 movable assets consists of 20 residential plots, 6 industrial plots, 1 House, 3 Agricultural Land, 2 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. Attached 7 movable properties are in the form of vehicles viz. Tata Safari, Honda Jazz, Skoda Octavia etc totalling to Rs 33 lakhs," an official release by ED said. "Earlier, CBI, ACB, Chandigarh had registered an FIR no. RCCHG2015A0002 dated 15.01.2015 against Vikram Seth and others under sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC and section 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of PC Act on the allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security for the purpose of cheating and use of forged documents as genuine," it said. The agency said that the investigation conducted by CBI revealed that Vikram Seth in connivance with other accused and officials of Bank of Baroda fraudulently got sanctioned 19 loans amounting to Rs 21.31 crores. "The loan amounts were routed through various accounts of associated firms/compes and other fraudulent firms by the accused persons through a web of transactions and ultimately the amounts were siphoned off," ED said. On the basis of the aforesaid FIR, ED initiated an investigation under PMLA against Vikram Seth and others. "Investigation was conducted into sources of assets acquired by the accused in his name and in the name of his family members and others. Investigation revealed that the accused Vikram 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 viz. wife, son, brother and brother's wife," ED release said.
"These family members were not having any legitimate source of income to acquire any such immovable assets. These assets were being proceeds of crime totalling to Rs 18.5 crores have been provisionally attached PMLA," it said.
( With inputs from ANI )