ED carries out searches against West Bengal real estate company

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted searches at the premises of the Rose Valley group in Kolkata in connection with a money laundering case against the real estate firm for allegedly raising illegal funds.

Sources said the searches were carried in at least three premises of the group in the West Bengal capital and some documents have been seized.

The agency, sources said, has registered a criminal case under the Provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the group on a reference made by stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in this regard and against allegedly illegal collective investments schemes floated by the group akin to the Saradha chit fund scam.

Lakhs of investors have voiced grievance that they were cheated of their money by the alleged illegal schemes run by the group in the state.

Sources said the searches were also necessitated in connection with ED’s probe in the Saradha chit fund’s money laundering investigations too.

‘The ED has registered a money laundering case against the Rose Valley group and today three premises were covered under the searches. The searches also pertain to investigations related to the Saradha case,’ sources said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has been probing the case after the Economic Offences Wing of the West Bengal police began a probe against the group in 2009.

The group is also being investigated by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, an investigative agency under the Corporate Affairs Ministry.