 "ED's big catch: Textile Tycoon, offshore trusts, a ₹150-Cr London property")
A luxury property near Buckingham Palace—one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods—has become the latest focal point in a high-profile Indian bank fraud investigation.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), through its Indore Sub-Zonal Office, has issued a Provisional Attachment Order on December 30, 2025, attaching an immovable property valued at approximately ₹150 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Beneficial ownership traced to former textile baron
According to the ED, the London property is held under the beneficial ownership of Nitin Shambhukumar Kasliwal and his family members. Kasliwal is the former Chairman and Managing Director of S Kumars Nationwide Limited, once a prominent name in India’s textile sector.
Kasliwal is accused of defrauding a consortium of Indian banks of around ₹1,400 crore, as per multiple FIRs registered in the case. The agency alleges that funds availed by S Kumars Nationwide Ltd were diverted overseas under the guise of foreign investments and later used to acquire immovable assets abroad.These assets, the ED said, were concealed through a complex web of private trusts and offshore companies, making the ownership difficult to trace.
Raids, records and a trail across tax havens
The attachment follows search operations conducted by the ED on December 23, 2025, during which investigators seized incriminating documents and digital devices under Section 17 of the PMLA.
A detailed forensic analysis of the seized material, the agency said, revealed an elaborate offshore architecture allegedly used to divert and conceal funds. The network spanned several tax-efficient jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Jersey and Switzerland.
The trust-company maze
At the heart of this structure, investigators say, was the Catherine Trust—earlier known as Surya Trust—in which Kasliwal and his family members were the primary beneficiaries.
This trust allegedly exercised control over Catherine Property Holding Limited (CPHL), a company incorporated in Jersey and the British Virgin Islands. CPHL, in turn, held ownership of the London property now attached by the ED.
The agency claims this layered trust-and-company framework was deliberately designed to mask ownership and obscure the trail of funds diverted from India.
What comes next
With the provisional attachment in place, the ED is expected to coordinate with foreign enforcement and judicial authorities to secure possession of the attached asset under international cooperation mechanisms.
The agency said further investigation is ongoing, indicating that more overseas assets and entities could come under scrutiny as the probe deepens.