By Consultants Review Team
According to official sources, the Enforcement Directorate raided the premises of real estate major DLF in Gurugram as part of a money laundering probe against real estate firm Supertech and its promoters. The central agency recovered certain documents during the recent action, according to the officials.
According to the sources, the action is related to the ED probe into Supertech. PTI's email to DLF did not receive a quick response. In this instance, the ED detained Supertech promoter R K or Ram Kishor Arora in June. It was subsequently claimed that Arora was the group's key controlling figure who opted to "divert" crores of dollars from investors and homeowners to numerous shell firms.
The money laundering case was filed under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in response to 26 FIRs filed by police departments in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh against Supertech Limited and its group companies on allegations of defrauding 670 homebuyers for Rs 164 crore.
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According to the Enforcement Directorate, "huge amounts of money running into hundreds of crores were siphoned off through Supertech Group and they failed to adhere to their agreed obligations to provide the possession of flats to customers on time."
The company said it had "siphoned off Rs 440 crore received from customers and homebuyers for purchasing land in Gurugram in 2013-14 at highly inflated prices while their already promised projects in Noida were not completed."
A new project was established on this newly acquired site, and fresh advances were collected from hundreds of homeowners, as well as loans from banks/NBFCs, which also became NPA and were branded "fraud" by banks, according to the complaint.
Supertech Ltd, founded in 1988, has supplied over 80,000 flats, primarily in the Delhi-NCR market. Currently, the organization is working on over 25 projects throughout the National Capital Region (NCR). More than 20,000 consumers have yet to take ownership. Since last year, the corporation has been in a state of crisis.
Supertech experienced a major blow in August 2022 when its approximately 100-metre-tall twin towers, Apex and Ceyane, located on Noida Motorway, were demolished by a Supreme Court ruling that declared their construction within Emerald Court premises to be in breach of standards. The two towers were demolished with almost 3,700 kg of explosives.
Arora had previously stated that the demolition of the company's two towers in Noida resulted in a loss of approximately Rs 500 crore, including construction and interest costs. In March of last year, the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered the insolvency proceedings against Supertech Ltd in response to a petition filed by the Union Bank of India for non-payment of Rs 432 crore in dues.