Patra Chawl scam case: ED attaches Goa plots of developers

Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd was to redevelop flats for 672 tenants of Patra chawl and MHADA, but it sold the units to nine other builders. Pic/Nimesh Dave

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached two immovable properties worth Rs 31.50 crore belonging to developers entrusted with the redevelopment of Patra chawl in Goregaon. The assets are lands in Goa held by Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Kumar Wadhawan, directors of Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GAPL) that was to undertake the project, said officers.

The ED initiated the investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on an FIR registered by Mumbai police's economic offences wing (EOW). The FIR was filed against GAPL, Rakesh, Sarang and other directors on the complaint of the executive engineer (Mumbai) of MHADA. A tripartite agreement was signed between the society, MHADA and GAPL, according to which the developer was to provide flats to 672 tenants, build units for MHADA and sell the remaining area.

The GAPL directors, however, misled MHADA and sold the floor space index (FSI) to nine developers, according to the ED. They collected a net amount of R901.79 crore without constructing the units for 672 displaced tenants and MHADA. Furthermore, GAPL launched a project named ‘Meadows' and collected the booking amount of around Rs 138 crore from flat buyers. The total proceeds of the crime amount to Rs 1,039.79 crore, the ED stated.

Also Read: Patra Chawl case: ED attaches two immovable properties worth Rs 31.50 crore

During the investigation, the ED learnt that the Wadhawans diverted the proceeds of the crime to bank accounts of HDIL and its group companies - GACPL, Sapphire Land Development Pvt Ltd, Satyam Realtors, etc. Rakesh is the founder and one of the promoters of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL). Eventually, the crores of rupees ended up in the personal bank accounts of Rakesh and Sarang.

Between 2011 and 2016, Rs 38.5 crore from Rakesh's bank account was utilised for pre-payments of instalments against a loan of Rs 28.5 crore. The loan was taken in 2011 for the purchase of two plots worth Rs 31.50 crore - 1,250 square meters and 15,300 square meters - in North Goa. A payment of Rs 2 crore was made to the seller of the plots from the personal account of Sarang.

The ED in August arrested Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut in connection with the Patra Chawl case. Within three months, the special court granted him bail while observing that his arrest was illegal and the outcome of a "pick and choose strategy" of the ED.

Rs 31.50 cr
Worth of the plots attached by the ED