After raids on Agrani Homes, ED freezes 119 bank accounts and high-end automobiles.

NEW DELHI: In accordance with the anti-money laundering statute, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the promoters of a Bihar-based real estate business that is suspected of defrauding multiple homebuyers and confiscated 119 bank accounts, two luxury automobiles, and some insurance policies.

According to a statement from the agency, searches were started on April 18 at about eight locations belonging to the company Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd., including those of its CMD Alok Kumar Singh, Vijaya Raj Laxmi, Alka Singh, Rana Ranveer Singh, as well as those of a “key employee” Satvik Singh and Chartered Accountant Nishat Shrivastava in Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow, and Delhi.

The ED said that the “Agrani group of companies and its director have illegally diverted the deposits/investments of prospective home buyers for the acquisition of properties in their personal names or in the names of other companies.”

The company and its promoters are the targets of a money laundering case brought under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on at least eight FIRs that the Bihar Police filed.

Furthermore, the ED claimed that it had received more than 73 complaints alleging that Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd, Patna, CMD Singh, and others had “cheated” potential property purchasers out of a total of Rs 9.73 crore.

Along with 119 bank accounts, four insurance policies, and two luxury automobiles (in the names of Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd. and its directors), the ED reported that sale deeds of properties bought by Alok Kumar Singh in his own and in the name of his firm were also recovered during the raids.