The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth ₹410 crore in connection with a case involving the promoters of Omkar Group, who had allegedly taken loans from Yes Bank to construct buildings under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme in Mumbai’s Wadala and diverted the funds.
The attached properties include flats worth about ₹330 crore in a Warli building of the group and a land parcel in Viram (Pune) worth ₹80 crore of a company belonging to Sachin Joshi of the Viiking Group, said the agency.
The ED probe is based on a First Information Report registered by the Aurangabad police in Maharashtra. About a year ago, the agency had arrested two promoters of the Omkar Group, Babulal Varma and Kamal Kishore Gupta, for alleged diversion of the loans.
According to the ED, Omkar Realtors and Developers Private Limited and its directors bought a firm named Surana Developers Wadala, which had rights from the SRA for the re-development of Anand Nagar SRA Cooperative Housing Society. As alleged, they did not pay back the dues to the seller.
The accused also mortgaged the future floor surface index of the project and took huge credit facilities. While the funds were diverted in the guise of services and investments, the work on the SRA buildings was also not undertaken.
The ED had also arrested Mr. Joshi, son of a Gutkha baron, in February 2021. The agency filed a chargesheet in the case about a month later.
