Stock Guru: ED to attach Rs 125 cr property of accused couple

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to attach properties worth more than Rs 125 crore of the main accused in the Stock Guru scam -- Ullas Prabhakar and his wife -- under money laundering laws.
The agency has recently recorded the statement of the duo who are lodged in Tihar jail here in judicial custody.
The agency had registered a regular case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) sometime back after the couple was arrested by Delhi police last year.
Flats of the couple in places like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ratnagiri, Nagpur and few other cities besides other assets like fixed deposits and cash with a total value of a little more than Rs 125 crore will be attached and prohibitory orders will be used against their usage or operation by the concerned parties or anyone else, official sources said.

The agency's action to attach these properties under PMLA is aimedato depriving the accused benefits of these assets which are created through the "proceeds of crime" and illegal means.
The ED would also widen its probe in the case and investigate the role of some Income Tax department officials who had raided the couple last year.

The agency had registered the money laundering case against Ullas Prabhakar alias Lokeshwar Dev and his wife Raksha alias Priyanka Saraswat.
The agency had sometime back told a Delhi court that interrogation and recording of statements of both the accused was necessary for proceeding in the ongoing probe and the ED's investigators may be allowed to examine them in jail.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Ajay Pandey had allowed the plea of the agency then.
Ullas and Raksha were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi Police on November 10 last year from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra for allegedly duping around two lakh investors from seven states of nearly Rs 500 crore by promising them high returns through their firm M/s Stock Guru India dealing in stock market.