New Delhi Feb 18 PTI The Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh chargesheet before a court here in connection with its money laundering probe against realty group Unitech its promoter brothers Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra and others the federal agency said on Friday The chargesheet was filed on Thursday before the Rouse Avenue court here and the court has taken cognisance of the prosecution compliant field under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA it said Sanjay Chandra Ajay Chandra Ramesh Chandra their father and founder of the Unitech group Preeti Chandra wife of Sanjay Chandra Rajesh Malik promoter of accused company Carnoustie group and 66 domestic and overseas companies have been arrayed as accused in the chargesheet the Enforcement Directorate ED said All five are in judicial custody at present This is the second chargesheet by the agency against the accused The first was filed on December 2 last year The ED had filed a money laundering case against the group its promoters and linked companies on June 6 2018 on the directions of the Supreme Court and also after taking cognisance of two Delhi Police FIRs filed by the economic offences wing EOW and the Saket police station The agency has conducted as many as 43 raids in this case issued 11 attachment orders which includes 297 domestic and overseas assets worth a total of Rs 763 crore till now Properties of other accused companies like Carnoustie Group Shivalik Group Trikar Group as well as the personal and shell dummy companies linked to the Chandras have been attached it said The ED said the total proceeds of crime detected in this case stand at Rs 6352 crore and it has also filed five status report before the apex court updating it about the investigation being conducted under the criminal sections of the PMLA PTI NES AQS AQS

New Delhi Aug 26 PTI Making a startling revelation in the Supreme Court the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has unearthed a secret underground office here which was being operated by erstwhile Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra and visited by his sons Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra when on parole or bailED which has been investigating money laundering charges against the Chandras and Unitech Ltd said that both Sanjay and Ajay have rendered the entire judicial custody otiose as they have been freely communicating instructing their officials and disposing of their properties from inside the jailA bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah was told by Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan appearing for the ED that Chandras have deputed their officials outside the jail to communicate their instructions to outside worldDuring one of our search and seizure operations we have unearthed a secret underground office which is being used by Ramesh Chandra and visited by his sons when they are out on parole or bailWe have recovered hundreds of original sale deeds from that office hundreds of digital signatures and several computers which contain sensitive data with regard to their properties in India and abroad Divan told the benchShe said the probe agency has submitted two status reports in sealed cover to the court and have provisionally attached Unitech Ltd properties worth Rs 600 crore both in India and abroadDivan pointed out that the agency has found a very intricate web of money trail through shell companies and the properties are being disposed of in real time which is creating problem in the probeThey Chandras have been operating from inside the jail premises They have rendered the entire judicial custody otiose They are freely communicating and passing on instructions with the help of people deputed outside the jail premises ED has found that they have even tried to influence a dummy director when he was being interrogated by the agency Divan saidSenior advocate Vikas Singh appearing for the Chandras said that nothing is done against the jail manualThe top court said it is not hearing the Chandras at present and would first hear the EDs submissionOn June 4 the top court had granted 15-day interim bail to Sanjay Chandra to attend the last rites of his father-in-law after which he had surrenderedOn August 14 last year the top court had dismissed the bail plea of Chandra who was a month earlier granted interim bail for 30 days on humanitarian grounds as both his parents had tested positive for COVID-19 and asked him to surrender within three daysThe apex court had also dismissed the bail application of Chandras brother Ajay Chandra who is in jail since August 2017 Both Sanjay and Ajay are accused of allegedly siphoning home buyers money The top court in its October 2017 order had asked them to deposit Rs 750 crore with the apex court registry by December 31 2017 The Chandras have claimed that they complied with the courts conditions and they have deposited an amount in excess of Rs 750 crore and therefore they are granted regular bail The top court had noted that since the October 2017 order significant events have taken place and the apex court had directed a forensic audit to be conducted by Grant Thornton It said that the court had earlier directed the Centre to ensure that all aspects which were adverted to in the forensic report should be investigated by the competent agencies including with regard to the aspect of money laundering The matter pertains to a criminal case which started initially by one complaint lodged in 2015 and later joined by 173 other home buyers of Unitech projects -- Wild Flower Country and Anthea Project -- situated in Gurugram On January 20 last year in a respite to over 11000 hassled home buyers of Unitech the top court had allowed the Centre to take total management control of the realty firm and appoint a new board of nominee directors The apex court had approved the name of retired Haryana cadre IAS officer Yudvir Singh Malik as chairman and managing director CMD of the new board and directed that the existing board of directors of the company would stand superseded In 2018 the top court had directed a forensic audit of Unitech Ltd and its sister concerns and subsidiaries by Samir Paranjpe Partner Forensic and Investigation Services in Grant Thornton India The forensic auditors had submitted their report which said that Unitech Ltd received around Rs 14270 crore from 29800 home buyers from 2006-2014 and around Rs 1805 crore from six financial institutions for the construction of 74 projects PTI MNL SA