New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said it has attached the 707-acre luxurious Aamby Valley City and its picturesque surroundings in Maharashtra’s Lonavala, worth Rs 1,460 crore, as part of a money laundering investigation against the Sahara Group.

The residential and entertainment city nestled in the Sahyadri mountain ranges in Pune district was once touted by its creators as “India’s first planned hill city” boasting of large golf courses, lakes, villas, chalets and cottages for “premium living”.

It is located about 110 km from Mumbai and around 90 km from Pune, two of Maharashtra’s metropolitan cities that offer jobs, opportunities and a large platform for a host of businesses.

The federal agency said in a statement that a provisional order has been issued by its Kolkata office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the Aamby Valley City.

This land was purchased in “Benami” names with funds “diverted” from Sahara Group entities, it said.

A total of 707 acres in and around Aamby Valley City, Lonavala, having approximate market value of Rs 1,460 crore has been attached in the case of Sahara India and its group entities, the agency said.

The money laundering case stems from more than 500 FIRs filed by various state police departments.

Three FIRs registered against Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd (HICCSL) and others by Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan police, apart from over 500 such complaints filed against Sahara Group entities and related persons, have been analysed by the ED.

Out of these, more than 300 FIRs were registered for offences scheduled under the PMLA, it said.

There are allegations that the investors were “cheated” into depositing funds, “forced to” re-deposit funds without their consent and were “denied” their maturity payments despite demanding maturity payouts several times, according to the agency.

Sahara Group was running a Ponzi scheme through various entities such as 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, it said.

“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.

“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,” the ED said.

It added that in order to “camouflage” non-repayment, the group “manipulated” the books of accounts to show repayment in a scheme, treating reinvestment as fresh investment in another scheme.

To perpetuate the Ponzi scheme, they continued to accept fresh deposits despite not being able to repay the existing maturity amount, the agency said.

A part of the collected money was “siphoned and diverted” for creating benami assets for personal expenses and lavish lifestyle of the accused.

The probe found that the accused disposed of the assets of Sahara Group and received part of payment in “undisclosed cash” in lieu of sale of land, thereby denying the depositors of their rightful claim, it said.

The ED has recorded the statements of various persons in this case, including the depositors, agents and employees of Sahara Group and other related persons.

It seized Rs 2.09 crore “unexplained” cash during searches conducted in the case earlier. PTI NES ARI