ED attaches high-rise in J-K Bank fraud case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 24

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said it had issued a provisional attachment order under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to seize a multi-storeyed commercial complex, worth more than Rs 252 crore, located in Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh area in connection with its probe into an alleged bank fraud case against the Ambience Group.

The ED in an official statement said that the immovable property “is named Ambience Tower and it belongs to a company called Ambience Towers Pvt Ltd”, a firm of the Ambience Group promoted by Raj Singh Gehlot.

The ED’s case under provisions of the PMLA is based on an FIR and chargesheets filed by the Jammu and Kashmir anti-corruption bureau that found that a company named Aman Hospitality Pvt Ltd, through its promoter director Gehlot, was sanctioned term loan facility of Rs 810 crore by a consortium of banks led by J&K Bank to part finance its hotel project in Shahdara, Delhi.

“The loan amount later turned into an NPA. During investigation, it was revealed that Gehlot had diverted loan funds and layered the same through a web of bank accounts belonging to his relatives and Ambience Group companies,” the ED said, adding that it also found that the promoter of the company “diverted” materials to the other project sites of the Ambience Group.

Gehlot was arrested by the ED in September 2021 in this case. His wife Sheela Gehlot and other directors of the Ambience Group such as Amit Gehlot, Shamsher Singh and Pawan Singh were also named as accused in the chargesheets filed by the ED earlier.

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