Prime property attached by Enforcement Directorate in PMLA case

According to ED sources, a money laundering case was booked following a land grab case was registered by the crime branch of the Chennai city police against a gang which had usurped the property by forging and fabricating documents. 

ED sources while explaining modus operandi said the gang used to identify prime property that were not under the direct control of the owners and encroach upon them initially. Subsequently, the gang members would fabricate documents to show that the land has been sold for a fancy price. 

In one such racket, the gang spotted a prime property of around 12 grounds in a posh residential locality in Valasaravakkam whose actual owner was a septuagenarian woman. 

The gang with the assistance and funding from the director of a group of companies engaged in logistics and warehousing operations, arranged a fake transaction to create ownership in favour of a penurious person by fabricating the land registration through forged documents and made it look like a genuine sale. 

The Enforcement Directorate upon registering a ‘money laundering case’ under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, traced the money trail flowing out the bank account of ultimate beneficiary to different account and its transmission from there to the members of the gang who had no legal right over the land. 

Investigations revealed that the said property was involved in money laundering and hence the same was attached for further proceedings and investigation. 

The market value of the attached property was estimated to be around Rs 15 crore and further investigations are on.