ED raids real estate company in Jammu

Jammu, Mar 10:The Enforcement Directorate on Monday carried out searches at six places and seized fixed deposits and sovereign gold bonds worth over Rs 25 crore in connection with a foreign exchange violation case against a real estate firm, a spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the searches included residential and commercial premises in Jammu belonging to Rajesh Rathore and Mohd. Ashraf Sheikh and their companies in the case related to illegal acquisition of land by a non-resident Indian (NRI).

During the searches, fixed deposit receipts of Rs 25 crore and sovereign gold bonds of Rs 16 lakh were seized, the spokesman said in a statement.

As per prevailing guidelines under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), an NRI cannot purchase sovereign gold bonds, whereas these seized gold bonds were purchased by the NRI by posing himself as a resident of India.

The searches also led to seizure of documents relating to investments in crypto currencies and foreign investments of around Rs 2.5 crore in Dubai by Sheikh, a property dealer and commission agent.

The seizure included documents of properties suspected to be purchased out of funds from Dubai, the spokesman said.

The investigation was initiated by the ED under the FEMA against Balkrishan Rathore, Rajesh Rathore and others.

During the probe it was found that Rathore, an NRI, had purchased agricultural land and built a multi-storey residential project in the name of Safa Valley through a company named as 8 Boundaries Builders Pvt. Ltd. at Bhatindi in Jammu.

He had infused huge amounts in this company from Dubai for the project in the form of unsecured loans to the company in violation of the FEMA.

Calls made to the builder company for comments went unanswered.