ED attaches assets worth over Rs 200 crore in Sri Lanka under PMLA probe

The Enforcement Directorate Thursday said it has attached an under-construction luxury hotel in Colombo's prime area and some other assets worth more than Rs 200 crore as part of a money laundering probe linked to a Gurugram-based realty company which is alleged to have duped homebuyers.

The company named Krrish Realtech Private Limited is promoted by businessman Amit Katyal, who is believed to be a close associate of the family of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Katyal was arrested by the central agency in 2023 in a separate money laundering case related to the railways alleged land-for-jobs scam involving Prasad and his family.

The ED said in a statement that it has issued an order to provisionally attach an under-construction luxury hotel and leasehold rights over 4 acres of land in the "Colombo 1" area of Sri Lanka apart from land rights for about 2.82 acres of Vicinity Hotels Pvt. Ltd., in the name of Good Earth Business Park Pvt. Ltd. located at Sector-66 in Gurugram.

The money laundering case of the ED stems from FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police and Gurugram police against Katyal and his associates.

It was alleged in these police complaints that Krrish Realtech Pvt. Ltd. "defrauded" numerous investors and "illicitly" transferred hundreds of crores of rupees abroad "through a coordinated scheme involving cheating, deception and fraud".

The company, the agency alleged, "duped and defrauded" numerous plot buyers by resorting to "cheating" and "misrepresentation" of facts relating to the project.

The agency said the company floated a project to provide residential plots in the centre of Gurugram. However, the ED said, despite the lapse of more than 13 years no plots were provided to the buyers. The company had collected hard earned money of Rs 503 crore belonging to innocent plot buyers, it said.

"Amit Katyal willingly siphoned off funds collected from various plot buyers and investors to a Sri Lankan company named The One Transworks Square (Pvt) Ltd. (formerly Krrish Transworks Colombo Pvt Ltd) which was developing a luxury real estate project in Sri Lanka."  "For the said purpose, the promoter has resorted to diversion layering and concealment of funds and projected the funds as legitimate income," the ED statement said.

The assets attached abroad (Colombo) are worth Rs 205 crore and this includes about 4 acres of land and leasehold rights of some buildings.

In order to freeze these assets against sale and use, the ED sends a formal legal request to their foreign counterparts requesting them to help in executing the order issued as part of a criminal investigation.

The ED also said that some of the funds were "siphoned off" to a company named NCR Business Park Pvt. Ltd., which is now known as Good Earth Business Park Pvt. Ltd.

About 2.82 acres of land worth Rs 19.08 crore in Badshahpur and Ghasola villages in Sector 66 of Gurugram (in the name of the Good Earth Business Park Pvt. Ltd.) have also been attached.