ED attaches Rs 18.5-cr assets of Vikram Seth & his family members under PMLA in Chandigarh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 42 immovable properties and 7 movable properties in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh totalling to Rs 18.50 crore of businessman Vikram Seth (not the author) and his family members under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a bank fraud case.

'Attached 7 movable properties are in form of vehicles'

An official release by ED said, "The attached 42 movable assets consists of 20 residential plots, 6 industrial plots, 1 House, 3 Agricultural Land, 2 Brick Kilns and 10 commercial plots of amounting to Rs 18.17 crore located in (Phagwara) Kapurthala and (Banga) Nawanshahar districts of Punjab and in (Amb) Una district of Himachal Pradesh. Attached 7 movable properties are in the form of vehicles viz. Tata Safari, Honda Jazz, Skoda Octavia etc totalling to Rs 33 lakhs." 

"Earlier, CBI, ACB, Chandigarh had registered an FIR no. RCCHG2015A0002 dated 15.01.2015 against Vikram Seth and others under sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC and section 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of PC Act on the allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security for the purpose of cheating and use of forged documents as genuine," it said.

The agency said that the investigation conducted by CBI revealed that Vikram Seth in collusion with other accused and officials of Bank of Baroda fraudulently got sanctioned 19 loans amounting to Rs 21.31 crores. "The loan amounts were routed through various accounts of associated firms/companies and other fraudulent firms by the accused persons through a web of transactions and ultimately the amounts were siphoned off," ED said.

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On the basis of the aforesaid FIR, ED initiated an investigation under PMLA against Vikram Seth and others. The probe found that Seth had "routed" the loan amounts through many bank accounts. After multiple layering of the proceeds of crime, the amount was found to be invested in acquiring assets in the name of his wife, son, brother and brother's wife.

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"These family members did not have any legitimate source of income to acquire such immovable assets," the ED charged. The ED case is based on a CBI FIR lodged in 2015. It said a probe in the case is on.

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(With agency inputs)