Ahmedabad, Jan 8 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached a resort and other properties valued at around Rs 4.92 crore of a former field supervisor of the Gujarat Land Development Corporation in Gujarat's Anand district, in connection with allegations of possessing illegal assets, an official said on Thursday.
The ED's Ahmedabad Zonal Office said that it has provisionally attached properties to the tune of Rs 4.92 crore of Dhirubhai Bababhai Sharma under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The attached properties include commercial shop, residential house, agricultural land, Jalashay resort at Nadiad in Gujarat, it added.
The ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau Police Station at Anand district against Sharma, under Sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for possession of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs 8.04 crore (about 354.56 per cent) in excess of his known sources of income during the period April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2018.
Sharma, his family members, and their company Jalashray Resort Private Limited had collectively taken secured/unsecured loans.
During the investigation, it was found that the repayment of loans availed was primarily made through cash deposits in various bank accounts, the ED said.
Instead of using conventional banking channels, large amounts of cash were deposited into their accounts, which were then immediately transferred to Krishna Finance as loan repayments, the ED added.
This pattern indicated a classic money laundering technique, where illicit funds were first introduced into the banking system through cash deposits and then used to settle financial liabilities, thereby obscuring their origin, it said.
Additionally, some of the repayments were routed through multiple accounts, further complicating the financial trail and raising suspicions of fund layering to conceal the true source of money, it added.
Jalashray Resort was established on February 1, 2012, by Sharma's son and wife on a 52 Guntha land purchased in 2007 for Rs 5.40 lakh.
The resort received an initial secured loan of Rs 5.50 crore and later increased its funding with a Rs 7.85 crore loan in 2018, the ED said in a statement.
Sharma and his family also availed Rs 1.19 crore in the form of unsecured loan during 2015-2020 for the purpose of development of the resort.
The resort's development was financed through a combination of loans, cash deposits in bank accounts, and transfers from various sources including funds received from Preya Services, an entity having 50 per cent stake of the daughter-in-law of Sharma.
Sharma had LIC and Max Life insurance policies in the name of self and family members, and had made premium payments in cash and later the maturity amounts of these policy were transferred into his personal savings account.
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