ED seizes assets of Dino Morea, late Cong leader Ahmed Patel's son-in-law

In a big setback to late Congress leader Ahmed Patel's son-in-law Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui and Bollywood actor Dino Morea, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday that it has attached their properties in connection with the Sandesara Group bank fraud case.

An ED official said that the financial probe agency on Friday attached eight immovable properties, three vehicles and several bank accounts/shares/mutual funds having a total value of Rs 8.79 crore belonging to four persons under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Sandesara Group case.

The official said that the agency attached properties to the tune of Rs 1.4 crore belonging to Morea, besides attaching properties worth Rs 2.41 crore in the name of Siddiqui.

Besides these two, the agency also attached properties worth Rs 3 crore belonging to one Sanjay Khan, and properties worth Rs 1.98 crore in the name of one Aqeel Abdulkhalil Bachooali.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against several entities for cheating various public sector banks.

The official said that during the probe, it was revealed that the Sandesaras had diverted the proceeds of crime of Rs 3 crore, Rs 1.4 crore, Rs 12.54 crore and Rs 3.51 crore to Sanjay Khan, Dino Morea, Aqeel Bachooali and Irfan Ahmed Siddiqui, respectively.

Earlier, the ED had attached properties to the tune of Rs 14,513 crore in connection with the case.

"With the latest additions, the total attachments in this case have reached Rs 14,521.80 crore. The total proceeds of crime in this case is more than Rs 16,000 crore," the official said.

The ED has also filed a charge-sheet along with four supplementary charge-sheets in connection with the case and has arrested four persons so far.

The official said that Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara and Hitesh Patel have been declared fugitives by a special court.