Mumbai: The ED, probing a money laundering case involving Iqbal Mirchi, is learnt to have traced the trail of a masked electronic communication between Bangalore-based property broker and Nilesh Deshpande and the late drug kingpin.
Nilesh is the husband of Rinku Deshpande, aka Rinku Talreja, who figures as a beneficiary of the proceeds of crime in the probe. She was arrested on Wednesday and a special PMLA court on Friday remanded her in judicial custody till November 4.
Sources said while probing Rinku’s links with Mirchi, ED came across a suspicious mail sent using e-mail account of Nilesh — around the same time when negotiations were being finalised for a formal handover of Mirchi’s three properties in Worli to a reality firm, Sunblink Reality Pvt Ltd, for a decided sum of Rs225 crore.
The said email, content of which was masked using encryption, had been sent from Nilesh’s account to one ‘Ajay’, who ED is trying identify. From Ajay’s account, the mail was forwarded to the account of Asif Memon, who is the son of Iqbal Mirchi. Asif, in turn, forwarded it to the mail account of Mirchi, from where it had been retrieved by the ED, sources added.
“From Nilesh’s account to Mirchi, the entire trail has been established. It is believed that Nilresh was an alibi to cover up the tracks between Rinku and Mirchi,” sources said. They refused to disclose the contents.
Rinku, who grew up in Bandra before shifting to Bangalore after marriage, dabbled in property brokerage business earlier. Her father Gullu Talreja is a renowned businessman from central Mumbai who once owned the Geminy Dyeing and Painting mills in Lower Parel, before venturing into rental and export business.
ED has learnt Rinku was initially introduced to Mirchi by Ranjit Singh Bindra, another Bandra-based property broker, a friend of her younger brother, during the finalisation of the deal between Mirchi’s Worli properties (measuring 1,537 sq mt) and Sunblink.
Rinku had allegedly posed as a ‘fake confirming party’ and received Rs30-40 crore as commission for the same on behalf of the fake tenants which were arranged by Mirchi's front-man Humayun Merchant (who was also arrested in the case). The money was later distributed amongst brokers, including herself.
The agency claims Rinku had attempted to camouflage the transaction by claiming that the money was actually a repayment of Rs38 crore cash loan she had given to Bindra. However, Bindra denied of having taken any loans from her, the ED said.
From the papers seized in raids, ED learnt Rs43 crore remains to be paid to tenents till November 2019. In fact, ED suspects Rs127 crore had already been laundered to Mirchi through hawala channels after encashing the cheques from fake bank accounts in Chennai.
The accounts were opened by submitting fake KYC details. Some belonged to a trading firm floated by Rinku.
She had tried to appoint a counsel through husband to become a fake tenant in a property, sources added. The proceeds from the sale of the properties is suspected to have been used by Mirchi to purchase a five start hotel in Dubai for UAE 90 million.
