ED attaches ₹1,460 crore Aamby Valley in Maharashtra’s Lonavala in case against Sahara Group

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India disclosed on Tuesday, April 15 that they had attached the ₹1,460 crore Aamby Valley City property in Lonavala to its money laundering probe against the Sahara Group, reported the news agency PTI. 

The 707-acre property is located in the Sahyadri mountain ranges in the district of Pune, Maharashtra. As per the agency report, the city was termed “India's first planned hill city”, featuring large golf courses, lakes, villas, chalets and cottages, which aimed to provide a premium standard of living for its residents.

The property is located 110 kilometres from the city of Mumbai and nearly 90 kilometres from Pune, two metropolitan cities that provide jobs and opportunities for businesses and corporations.

According to the ED report, the land for the Aamby Valley City was purchased in “Benami” names with funds which were allegedly “diverted” from the Sahara Group entities, as per the report. 

According to the agency report, a provisional order has been issued by its Kolkata office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the Aamby Valley City with the money laundering probe.

Sahara Group money laundering case

Sahara Group was involved in a Ponzi scheme through its various subsidiaries, and a case was filed against the allegations that the investors were “cheated” into depositing funds, “forced to” re-deposit funds without their consent, and “denied” their maturity payments despite demanding maturity payouts several times, reported the news agency, citing ED.

“The group has cheated the depositors and agents by alluring them with high returns and commissions, respectively, and utilised the funds collected in a non-regulated manner without any information or control of the depositors,” reported the news agency citing ED. 

The money laundering case holds over 500 FIRs filed by several State police departments, and three out of these FIRs are against Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd (HICCSL) and others by Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan police.

HICCSL, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited (SCCSL), Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Cooperative Society (SUMCS), Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (SMCSL), Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL), Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL), Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL), and other group entities were allegedly involved in this scheme, as per the report. 

“They avoided repayment and instead forced/allured the depositors to redeposit their maturity amount, switching/transferring deposits from one scheme to the other scheme and entity,” said ED, as per the news report.

According to the agency report, the group “manipulated” the books of accounts to show repayment in a scheme. They also continued to accept fresh deposits despite being unable to repay the existing maturity amount.

The collected money was reportedly “siphoned and diverted” to create unnamed assets for personal expenses and the lavish lifestyle of the accused personnel in the case. 

The agency also seized ₹2.09 crore of “unexplained” cash during its searches earlier.