In a money laundering case, the ED seizes Shine City’s properties worth Rs 18 crore.

LUCKNOW: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Lucknow unit attached immovable properties in the form of Shine city (real estate company) lands in eight districts on Thursday.
The land was attached in Lucknow, Varanasi, Fatehpur, Rae Bareli, Kanpur, Jalaun, Gorakhpur, and Manda (Prayagraj).

In January 2021, the ED filed a case against Shine City Infra Project Private Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, for stealing crores from investors throughout the state.
Shine City and its directors, Rasheed Naseem, Asif Nafees, Javed Iqbal, and others, have been charged under the PMLA.

The real estate firm and its owners were charged with defrauding the public by luring them to invest in various lucrative schemes floated by it, according to ED officials.

“At this stage of the investigation, the quantum of criminal proceeds is approximately Rs 80.78 crore, according to various FIRs and complaints received on record,” an officer said.

According to the ED, nine residential premises in Lucknow and Varanasi were attached, including flats worth Rs 7.37 crore in the names of Rashid Naseem and Asif Naseem, as well as its managers Amitabh Kumar Srivastava and Meera Srivastava, and other properties worth Rs 10.59 crore in six other districts belonging to the company’s owners and other officials.

The company had launched several illegal lucrative schemes, including the Project Investment Plan, Buyback Scheme, Bid, Hot Deal, and Shine V Coin, through a multi-level marketing network, in which the company’s agents sold the schemes to the general public on a commission basis.

“The investigation found that the firm purchased large tracts of land from farmers and then sold them in smaller pieces as plots. Despite having invested in the company’s schemes, many investors were unable to obtain the land or their money back “According to ED.

Shine City companies, according to the ED, also bought and sold land in other parts of UP, Bihar, and West Bengal. To determine the details of the land, data/sale deeds are collected from the respective property registration authorities.