The Enforcement Directorate officials in Gurugram on Friday arrested Ashish Bhalla, the promoter of the World Trade Centers (WTC) Group for alleged cheating of hundreds of homebuyers and real estate investors under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Enforcement Directorate launched a probe into WTC Group and its promoters Ashish Bhalla, Suparna Bhalla, Abhijeet Bhalla, as well as Bhutani Infra and others for alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust and defrauding hundreds of homebuyers.
Enforcement Directorate sources said the group had attracted investments running to around Rs 3,000 crores promising assured returns on investment in house plots commercial spaces. These funds were siphoned off to several shell companies to acquire lands at various locations.
Investigations allegedly showed that hundreds of crores of rupees were diverted to suspicious entities in Singapore whose owners were related to the family members of Ashish Bhalla.
The ED stated that the WTC group “had collected more than ₹3,000 crore from various investors across several states such as Haryana, UP, Chandigarh, Ahmadabad, Punjab etc.”
The Enforcement Directorate conducted search operations under Section 17 of the PMLA on February 27, during which Ashish Bhalla “remained absconding and induced key persons against cooperating with investigation.”
“He remained absconding for several days in an attempt to frustrate proceedings under PMLA,” sources said. Bhalla was a key beneficiary and mastermind of the fraudulent activities of the group.
Ashish Bhalla was arrested under PMLA on Thrusday for custodial interrogation and the special court at Gurugram sent him to six days' custody.
Ashish Bhalla was arrested under PMLA on Thrusday for custodial interrogation and the special court at Gurugram sent him to six days' custody.
Amid the probe, the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) said it terminated 13 licences held by WTC Noida Development and Spire Techpark due to multiple violations of the agreements. The WTCA is a network of more than 300 highly connected, mutually supporting businesses and organisations in nearly 100 countries/territories.
In a statement on Tuesday, the WTCA said it has terminated the licence due to "numerous material violations of license agreements, failure to adhere to the bylaws of the WTCA as well as inability to advance the objectives of the Association".
In a statement on Tuesday, the WTCA said it has terminated the licence due to "numerous material violations of license agreements, failure to adhere to the bylaws of the WTCA as well as inability to advance the objectives of the Association".
Effective from February 19, the termination was applicable to the licences held for WTC Ahmedabad, WTC Amritsar, WTC Bhopal, WTC Chandigarh, WTC Faridabad, WTC GIFT City, WTC Lucknow, WTC Noida, WTC Noida CBD, WTC Patna, WTC Surat, WTC Vadodara and WTC Varanasi.
The ED said it had identified assets valued thousands of crores of rupees after conducting searches at the premises of the realty firms WTC Group and Bhutani Group. Raids were carried out at several locations in Delhi, Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad and Gurugram (both in Haryana) on WTC Group and its promoter Ashish Bhalla, and Bhutani Group and its promoter Ashish Bhutani.
The ED said that dozens of FIRs were filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police and the Faridabad Police in this matter.
These police cases were registered based on complaints from "hundreds" of homebuyers and investors.
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
