ED arrests M3M group director in money laundering case

M3M director arrested: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a director of Gurugram-based realty company M3M in a money laundering investigation, official sources said Friday. Roop Kumar Bansal was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday, they said. On June 1, the federal probe agency carried out raids against the M3M group and its directors as well as against IREO, another real estate group, in Delhi and Gurugram. It later alleged in a press statement that the owners, controllers and promoters of the M3M Group -- Basant Bansal, Roop Kumar Bansal, Pankaj Bansal and other key persons -- deliberately avoided investigations during the raids.

M3M directors, including Bansal, had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court following the searches to quash the ED case and summons issued to them, saying they have not indulged in any wrongdoing, sources indicated. The agency on Monday said it seized luxury cars. Including a Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentley, worth Rs 60 crore as well as jewellery valued at Rs 5.75 crore during the raids on the two groups.

The agency has been investigating the IREO group for the last few years on charges of diverting, siphoning and misappropriating funds of investors and customers. It was later found that "huge amounts of money running into hundreds of crores were siphoned off through the M3M Group too". "In one of the transactions, M3M group received about Rs 400 crore from IREO Group through several shell companies in multiple layers. The transactions were shown in the books of IREO as payments towards development rights. "The land was owned by M3M group and the market value of the land was around Rs 4 crore," the ED alleged.