The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs. 70.11 crore, including the bank accounts of Multiple Resorts, St. Xavier’s College (Kolkata) and Knight Riders Sports Private Limited, in connection with the Rose Valley Group ponzi scam. The total attachment in the case now stands at Rs.4,750 crore.
The bank accounts of Multiple Resorts, St. Xavier’s College and Knight Riders Sports -- attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act -- have an overall balance of Rs.16.20 crore, the ED said.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's wife Gauri Khan, actor Juhi Chawla's husband Jay Mehta and Venkatesh Mysore are the directors of Knight Riders Sports.
It has also attached 24 acres of landed property at Ramnagar and Mahishdal in Purba Medinipur, one acre of landed property at Jyoti Basu Nagar and a hotel in West Bengal, besides a flat at Dilkap Chambers in Mumbai.
The ED probe is based on the FIRs and charge sheets filed by the West Bengal police against the Rose Valley Group of companies and others. It is alleged that the companies fraudulently collected deposits of more than Rs.17,520 crore from the public with the intention to cheat them by falsely promising high returns on their investment.
An amount of Rs.10,850 crore was repaid, but the remaining still remains outstanding. The group diverted and siphoned off the funds. It had “no real business” that could generate money for repayment.
Earlier, the ED had identified and attached properties having a tentative market value of about Rs.4,680 crore, which included several luxurious resorts, hotels, vehicles, flats, lands, bullion and jewellery.
It had arrested the group's promoter, Gautam Kundu, in March 2015. He is still in judicial custody.
