ED attaches 707 acres in Aamby Valley City, valued at ₹1,460 cr

New Delhi: Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar arrives at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office after being summoned for questioning in connection with a money laundering case, in New Delhi, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (PTI Photo)(PTI09_19_2022_000052B)
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached ₹1,460 crore worth 707 acres of land in and around Aamby Valley City, Lonavala, in connection with a money laundering case against Sahara Group and its entities.

The Aamby Valley City project, for the super rich, was created over 10,000 acres of land in Lonavala, located about 120 km from Mumbai.

The ED alleged that the land was purchased in Benani names using funds diverted from Sahara Group entities.

The agency initiated the investigation based on 3 FIRS registered u/s 420 and 120B of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, 1860 against M/s Humara India Credit Co-operative Society Ltd (HICCSL) and others by Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan police.

Besides that, over 500 FIRs were filed against the Sahara Group entities and related persons, with more than 300 of them registered for scheduled offences under the PMLA, 2002, based on allegations that depositors were deceived into depositing funds. They were also forced to redeposit funds without their consent and were denied maturity payments, the ED said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ED said that its investigations uncovered a ponzi scheme being operated through multiple entities such as HICCSL, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd (SCCSL), Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Cooperative Society (SUMCS), Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd (SMCSL), Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL), Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL), Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) and other Sahara group entities.

The group, alleged the agency, defrauded depositors and agents by alluring them with promises of high returns and commissions and utilised the collected funds in a unregulated manner without any information or control of the depositors.

Furthermore, they avoided repayment and instead forced/ allured the depositors to redeposit their maturity amounts, by switching /transferring deposits from one scheme to other scheme and entity, the ED alleged.

To camouflage non-repayment, the group has been accused of manipulating the books of accounts to show repayment in a scheme, treating reinvestment as fresh investment in another scheme.

“In order to perpetuate the Ponzi scheme, they continued accepting fresh deposits despite being unable to repay the existing maturity amount. Part of the collected money was siphoned and diverted for creating benami assets, for their personal expenses and lavish lifestyle,” the ED statement read.

Investigation also revealed that they have also disposed of the assets of the Sahara group and received part of the payment in undisclosed cash in lieu of the sale of land, thereby denying the depositors off their rightful claim.

Statements of various persons, including depositors, agents, employees of the Sahara Group and other related persons, have been recorded under Section 50 of PMLA. Also, cash of ₹2.98 crore was seized during searches carried out earlier.

Published on April 15, 2025