New Delhi: The ED has registered a money-laundering case against controversial builders Amrapali Group, based on multiple FIRs registered by the Delhi Police and Noida Police, accusing the group and its directors of duping buyers and investors of their hard-earned savings, officials here said.
While the probe agency has not gauged the exact scale of the scam yet, it has said that more than 35,000 buyers are likely to have lost their investments with the Amrapali Group.
The Enforcement Directorate has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), which is the equivalent of an FIR in the central agency, taking cognizance of multiple police FIRs to start investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). As of now, the ED has just taken over the case and a thorough investigation is expected to reveal more details of how much of investors' money was actually part of the proceeds of crime.
Based on complaints filed with the Delhi Police, Amrapali Dream Valley, it's Chief Managing Director, Anil Kumar Sharma and Director Amresh Kumar had allegedly duped home buyers by enticing investors through subvention schemes as a threeway-agreement between themselves, the buyers, and the bank. The complaints go on to allege that Amrapali defaulted on these pre-EMI payments to the banks in the agreement and also failed to finish construction on their projects.A lot of complainants claim that the total amount of investment stuck in Amrapali projects may end up reaching thousands of crores.
Speaking to the Millennium Post, Indrish Gupta, founder of the Noida Extension Flat Owners' Welfare Association (NEFOWA) said while it is good that investigating agencies are picking up pace, the government should take up initiative to make sure the unfinished projects are somehow completed so that the duped buyers are made whole again.