ED Conducts Sweeps at 12 Places Amid Two Separate Loan Fraud Cases

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) intensified its anti‑money‑laundering drive on Friday by launching search operations at twelve distinct locations linked to two high‑profile loan fraud cases. In Patna’s jurisdiction, officials zeroed in on Measur Ramnandi Hotels & Resorts Ltd (RHRL) in Gaya, Bihar. The company is accused of diverting Rs 58 crore from a Rs 85 crore credit facility obtained from a banking group headed by the Central Bank of India. The diversion allegedly hinged on a falsified project completion report submitted by the firm’s chief accountant.

Personal guarantees for the loan were provided by Mr. Akhouri Gopal, his son Nishant, and relative Nitesh, who collectively manage the enterprise. The search covered six premises in Gaya, two in Gurugram, and a single site in New Delhi, seizing documents, laptops and financial ledgers.

Investigators also discovered that five properties, originally mortgaged to Tata Motors Ltd as collateral, were later sold at a minimal price. The transaction documents were fraudulently recorded as cash sales, and the buyers—identified as low‑earning individuals—are suspected to be proxies serving the fraudsters’ intent to move assets swiftly.

In parallel, the Kolkata zonal office, also operating under the PMLA, executed raids at three locations tied to the ARSS Group of Odisha and the AMR/AMRL group. These searches, extending to Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, examined allegedly irregular loans obtained from SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd and SREI Equipment Finance Ltd, with allegations of ever‑greening, fund mis‑allocation and round‑tripping.

The CBI’s charge sheet places the total proceeds of crime (POC) at about Rs 131.79 crore, highlighting the extensive financial misdeeds uncovered by the ED’s coordinated raids.