ED attaches Rs 10.5 cr assets of Kolkata firm's directors in bank fraud

The ED on Wednesday attached assets worth Rs 10.5 crores of directors of Bhagwati Lifestyle stores chain under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with alleged bank fraud case.

Balances in bank accounts, shares and 15 flats in Kolkata of accused Madan Chand Jain, Gaurav Jain and others have been attached.

"Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets totalling Rs.10.5 crores belonging to accused Madan Chand Jain, Gaurav Jain and others under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in a bank fraud case. The attached assets are in the form of bank balances, investment in shares and 15 flats in Kolkatta," a press note said.

The investigation was taken up by ED on the basis of CBI charge sheet which disclose that Gaurav Jain and Madan Chand Jain, directors of Bhagwati Lifestyle Pvt Ltd took a loan of Rs 35 crores from SBI Commercial Branch, Kolkata in 2012 on the basis of fake deeds.

"They opened 13 to 15 showrooms in eastern India under the brand name of Bhagwati Lifestyle. After running the showrooms for around two years, the entire funds were siphoned off by diverting them to fake accounts and withdrawing them in cash," it said.

Investigation under PMLA revealed that accused Madan Chand Jain and Gaurav Jain through various fake identities like Madan Chand Surana, Gaurav Kumar Surana, Vishal Kothari, Shiveik Jain or Hemant Kochar conducted frauds in different Banks across Kolkata and Howrah.

"The frauds were conducted in an organised and well-planned manner with the help of their friends and employees namely Dilip Banik, Sunil Chaudhary, Alok Garodia, Ramesh Upadhyay and others," it said.

Gaurav Jain along with his father created multiple fake identities and obtained number of PAN cards, driving licence and voter ID cards to open more than 100 fake and fictitious bank accounts either in individual name or in the name of fake firms.

On the basis of fake identities, multiple copies of property deeds were created by the accused for the purpose of mortgaging them with banks and taking loans.

Investigation till date has revealed that frauds have been conducted in more than 15 banks across Kolkata and Howrah region by mortgaging the same properties multiple times by forging the property deeds.