The Enforcement Directorate escalated its battle against Sahara Group’s alleged financial malfeasance with sweeping raids in three southern and eastern states. Operations in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka on February 2 targeted company premises and personnel linked to Prime City land dealings, seizing a trove of digital and documentary evidence.
Sources from ED’s Kolkata office confirmed searches at Anantapur, Ballari, Bhubaneswar, and Berhampur. Digital footprints like WhatsApp chats, call logs, and contacts were confiscated alongside financial records and suspicious documents. Under PMLA provisions, statements from several persons were documented during the high-stakes searches.
Focus sharpened on Berhampur where 32 acres of prime land were dubiously offloaded in December 2023. Investigations exposed the sale as a sham, executed via a revoked board proposal against Supreme Court orders, under direct orders from top Sahara brass. The deal’s undervaluation raised red flags about proceeds laundering.
These raids form part of a larger probe triggered by FIRs against HICCSL and others for cheating and conspiracy. Sahara faces over 500 FIRs, 300+ under PMLA, accusing it of systematic investor duping via Ponzi-like schemes. Funds were recycled into new investments sans repayments, books manipulated to conceal defaults, and assets transferred internally sans rationale.
Four cooperatives bear crushing liabilities amid fund siphoning for benami buys, loans, and extravagance. Attachments on Sahara properties via five orders aim to recover laundered assets. Arrests of Anil Velaparmpil, Abraham, and OP Srivastava continue, with chargesheets already in court, promising accountability for thousands of aggrieved depositors.