The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Purushottam Chhaganlal Mandhana, a former Chairman and Managing Director of a Mumbai-based insolvent company as part of its probe into a money laundering case linked to an alleged bank loan fraud of over Rs 975 crore.
Purushottam Mandhana, arrested on Thursday, is the CMD of Mandhana Industries Limited, which has been liquidated and is now known as GB Global Limited. He was sent to ED custody for six days after he was produced before a special PMLA court on Friday.
The ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR filed by the Bank Frauds and Securities branch (BSFB) of CBI against Purushottam Mandhana, Manish Mandhana, Biharilal Mandhana and others as per a complaint filed by the Bank of Baroda for defrauding a consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 975.08 crore.
Mandhana Industries Limited and its directors allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy to cause losses to banks and corresponding wrongful gains for themselves by diverting loan funds through fraudulent transactions and circular trading, according to the ED. The CBI has not filed a chargesheet in the case.
The ED alleged that Purushottam Mandhana, with an ulterior motive, incorporated numerous fictitious entities in the name of his employees and used such entities for the layering of funds of Mandhana Industries Limited, including the loan funds.
“In pursuit of ill-motive to dupe the banks, he made bogus sales and purchases with different entities. He has also diverted funds from the accounts of Mandhana Industries Limited, including the loan funds to pay off his personal debts and those of his family members,” the ED said in its investigation.
Earlier, multiple search operations were carried out on June 26 and July 5 in the money laundering case, which led to the unearthing of crucial incriminating documents including numerous property documents and several digital devices.
Gold jewellery worth around Rs 3 crore, high-end cars including Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and multiple expensive watches, including Rolex and Hublot were also seized and frozen.
(with inputs from PTI)
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