Bank loan fraud: ED attaches flats, villa in Goa and Delhi

PTI, Jun 6, 2022, 6:30 PM IST

The Enforcement Directorate has attached flats and villas in Goa and Delhi and fixed deposits worth more than Rs 24 crore in a money laundering case linked to alleged bank loan default at the J&K Bank, the agency said on Monday.

A provisional order for attachment of the properties belonging to the Sanskar Group– proprietorship concern of Manish Sharma, Navin Beri, his partnership firm M/s Lavanya Travels, and Arvind Chadha– was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

”The attached assets are in the form of villas and flats in Goa, flats and office space in Delhi and Faridabad, and fixed deposits,” the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

The total value of the attached properties is Rs 20.39 crore, it said. The money laundering case stems from a Goa Police FIR that was filed against the accused of allegedly ”duping” investors to the tune of about Rs 10 crore by promising them villas in the ‘Banjara Hills project’ that was to be developed by the Sanskar Group in Anjuna, Goa, it said. ”Manish Sharma entered into an ‘agreement to sale’ and ‘sale deed’, executed before civil cum sub-registrar, with the buyers promising to deliver them the villas within the stipulated time. ”However, when the project was completed to about 60-70 percent, Manish Sharma and Navin Beri in connivance with the manager of Jammu and Kashmir Bank mortgaged the Banjara Hills project in Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd, Panaji, and availed a loan of Rs 20 crore by submitting false documents,” the agency alleged.

Thereafter, the loan amount was further ”diverted” to the bank accounts of Manish Sharma, Navin Beri, his partnership firm Lavanya Travels and Arvind Chaddha. ”This money was further utilized and consumed by them for their use. The bank declared the said loan account as NPA (nonperforming asset),” the ED said.