ED attaches properties worth Rs 44 crore belonging to Haryana Cong MLA Rao Dan Singh, son
In a significant development, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday provisionally attached immovable assets worth Rs 44 crore including 31 flats in Gurugram and a 2.25-acre land parcel situated at Harsaru village belonging to Congress MLA from Mahendragarh Rao Dan Singh and his son Akshat Singh, as part of an ongoing money-laundering probe, official sources said.
The development comes with Haryana in the throes of assembly elections, which are due to be held on October 5.
According to ED sources, flats and land parcels at Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari (Haryana) and Jaipur (Rajasthan) belonging to entities linked with M/s Suncity Projects Pvt Ltd and ILD Group have been also attached.
These entities are under investigation as part of a larger case of alleged financial misconduct.
The ED had initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against M/s Allied Strips Limited & others.
It was found that the accused persons and entities committed fraud by siphoning and diverting funds, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and fraud, causing wrongful loss of Rs 1,392.86 crore to the consortium of banks led by Canara Bank.
M/s Allied Strips Limited admitted to insolvency proceedings in 2018 and was eventually purchased by another company.
Search action under provisions of PMLA, 2002, led to the identification and seizure of cash amounting to Rs 1.42 crore, incriminating documents, undisclosed flats and lands, various lockers, trusts, and other assets from the premises of the group entities and persons including entities of Akshat Singh, son of Rao Dan Singh.
It was revealed that entities linked to Rao Dan Singh reportedly received approximately Rs 19 crore of the bank diverted funds from M/s Allied Strips Limited, and the same was invested to purchase the flats and land parcels.
These entities indulged in window dressing of books of accounts by squaring off the amount by assigning the same to other individuals, sources further informed.
Rao Dan Singh and his family members are yet to join the investigation, they added.
The modus operandi followed included siphoning off of the funds borrowed from banks to other companies in the form of unsecured loans and advances, writing off debts of its various debtors, bogus transactions etc. and taking cash in return which had been invested for buying of land and other long-term purposes.
The entities have been found to have falsified their books of accounts, ED sources revealed.
A law graduate and businessman, Rao Dan Singh is a four-time Congress MLA from the Mahendragarh constituency.
Belonging to the Ahir (OBC) community, Singh, 68, has been a close aide of Haryana Congress stalwart and ex-chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the outgoing state Assembly.
Dan Singh has again been fielded by the Congress from Mahendragarh as its candidate.
