Chit fund scam: ED attaches Mahesh Motewar’s property worth Rs101 crore

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made a second attachment worth Rs101 crores in the money laundering case linked to the Mahesh Kisan Motewar-owned Samruddha Jeevan group of companies.

The central agency attached various properties belonging to Motewar, who is accused of duping nearly 20 lakh investors of Rs3,500 crores. These properties, spread across eight states, include land, residential flats, offices, and commercial premises in the name of various Samruddha Jeevan group companies, Motewar and his family members and relatives.

They are located in Sangola, Patan, Saswad, Kolhapur, Murtijapur, Osmanabad, Sangamner, Purandar, Parner, Chalisgaon, Pimpri-Waghaere Pune (in Maharashtra), Hoshiarpur, Batala (in Punjab), Sarwar, Jaipur (in Rajasthan), Mangalore, Udupi, Gulburga, Hiriyur and Vijapur (in Karnataka), Khandwa (in Madhya Pradesh), Aska (in Odisha), Samastipur (in Uttar Pradesh), Surat, Valsad, Pardi, Bharuch and Vyara (in Gujarat).

ED also attached land in the joint names of Sai Foundation Pvt. Ltd. and Siddhant School of Medical Science, and a structure in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh. Balances in the five bank accounts belonging to the accused at the Central Bank of India, Andheri, under the names of five companies of Rajendrasingh Atarsingh Yadav have also been attached, ED stated.

After the second attachment drive, the total worth of the attached properties in the case is now Rs308 crores.

Chairman and managing director of Samruddha Jeewan Group, Motewar has been under arrest for duping investors since 2015.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID), Pune, found that Motewar and his two wives had duped more than 20 lakh small investors across India through business schemes like rearing, sale and purchase of live stocks.

They lured people to invest money by falsely promising unreasonably high returns and generated funds more than Rs3,500 crore. A lot of famers had invested in the schemes and were cheated, according to officers.

Earlier in June 2017, the ED had attached properties worth Rs207 crore including a Bell-make helicopter worth Rs3.43 crore in the same case.