In a money laundering case, the Compliance Directorate has detained former Rajya Sabha MP and businessman Kanwar Deep Singh.
Sources say the arrest took place in the Ponzi chit fund scam in an ongoing investigation. In 2016, ED filed a complaint against Singh and Alchemist Infra Realty Limited, a company allegedly connected to him.
A chargesheet filed by the Securities Exchange Board of India was taken into account by the federal probe agency.
In September 2019, when he was still a Rajya Sabha MP, the ED searched his official and private residence in Delhi and Chandigarh. The ED had then reported in searches to have seized Rs 32 lakhs.
Eight months earlier in January 2019, the ED had attached assets of Alchemist worth Rs 239 crores.
“Investigation revealed that the proceeds of crime generated by Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd were laundered through the web of companies. Investigations also revealed that the funds mobilised by the firm from various investors were never utilised for the purpose for which they were collected and the same were transferred to bank accounts of other group companies which were mainly paper companies from where they were systematically siphoned off by the accused and used to purchase properties at various locations in the country. All such assets in Punjab, Haryana, Shimla and bank accounts in HDFC Bank worth Rs 239.39 crore identified during the course of investigations have been provisionally attached,” the ED had said in a statement in January 2019.
For a very long time, Singh was under the SEBI, IT, ED and CBI scanners. It has been reported that approximately Rs 1916 crores had been raised by a Ponzi chit fund scheme initiated by Singh.
Allegations are that without the prior permission of the SEBI, the chit fund scheme was implemented and thousands of investors were duped.
Alchemist told the market regulator in 2015 that it had repaid Rs 1077 crores and requested more time to refund the remainder of the sum. However, the request was dismissed by SEBI and a chargesheet was submitted in March 2016.
The CBI in the Narada sting investigation has also challenged K D Singh.
