Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai on Wednesday provisionally attached immovable assets worth approximately Rs1,002.79 crore in the money laundering case against Dnyanradha Multistate Cooperative Credit Society Ltd (DMCSL), its chairman Suresh Kute, and others. Kute, was arrested in the month of July and currently in judicial custody.
The attached properties include immovable properties in the form of land and buildings in Mumbai, Aurangabad, Beed and Jalna districts of Maharashtra, the agency stated on Thursday.
The ED investigation is based on FIRs registered at various police stations in Maharashtra from May to July 2024. These FIRs cite several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act, 1999 in respect of fraud committed with the investors by Kute and others through M/DMCSL. DMCSL was managed and controlled by Kute, Yashvant V Kulkarni and others. It floated various deposit schemes (ponzi) and claimed to provide interest which varied from 12% to 14%.
During the agency's investigation, it was found that Kute and others lured more than 4 lakh gullible investors to deposit money with DMCSL by promising them higher returns. However, no payment or only partial payments were made to the investors when the deposits were matured, the ED said.
Embezzlement Of Funds By Management Found
The investigation of the anti-money laundering agency has revealed that the funds of DMCSL were embezzled by management of the society, wherein Kute and others hatched a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently divert funds amounting to Rs2318.45 crore (proceeds of crime) in guise of loans to various companies of the Kute Group owned by Kute and his wife Archana Kute.
Upon the disbursement of these fraudulent loan amounts, the funds were siphoned off by them through several accounts of the entities of Kute Group or directly in the form of cash. The funds received from DMCSL were further utilised for their own personal benefits like investment in new businesses, purchasing property and personal expenses,” the central agency stated.
Earlier, ED had conducted search operations in this case and seized movable assets to the tune of Rs 9.2 crore. And provisional attachment order for assets worth Rs 85.88 crore was also issued in the matter, taking the total seizure/freezing and attachments in this case to Rs1,097.87 crore, the ED said.
