Mumbai: Chandigarh-based property broker, Manmohansingh Ahuja, who had allegedly helped former Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank chairman Wayram Singh acquire expensive properties in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, has been summoned by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EoW) for questioning in connection with the investigation into the Rs 4,533 crore PMC scam.
EoW sources said that along with Ahuja, Waryam’s son too has been asked to be present at the agency’s office in the Mumbai police commissionerate at Crawford Market early next week.
Sources said that Ahuja had helped Singh to acquire a posh five star hotel in Model Town area of Amritsar. Following the acquisition, the hotel, estimated to be worth around Rs 400 crore and located adjacent to the Grand Trunk Road, was leased out to the Lemon Tree group. This apart, Ahuja had helped Singh buy tens of acres of land in Gurugram and Himachal Pradesh, the value of which will run into several crores of rupees, sources said.
“Ahuja is a partner in several of Singh’s business ventures that are looked after by the latter’s son,” sources said.
Following Singh’s arrest on October 4, EoW sleuths had frozen the latter’s two demat accounts having investments of over Rs 100 crore in shares and located four of his flats in Four Bungalows, Andheri (W). This apart, ownership documents in Singh’s name pertaining to a massive plot (worth Rs 2,500 crore) adjacent to Citizen Hotel in Juhu seaface had also been discovered during searches at the former PMC chairman’s premises.
EoW sources said that the total value of Singh’s seized property is estimated to be around Rs 3,000 crore.
Meanwhile, a senior EoW official told the Free Press Journal (FPJ) that the agency is likely to pitch Singh’s properties for auction if those were found to have been a part of HDIL group’s loot from PMC Bank. “If instances of Singh being a beneficiary of HDIL’s unpaid loans from the bank is established in the forensic audit (of the bank), the properties acquired from that money would be considered as proceeds of the crime,” the official said.
We will make a proposal to RBI (administrator) for facilitating their auction, if the auctioning of HDIL properties fell short of meeting the bank’s liquidity needs,” the official said.
The forensic audit report of the bank is likely to be submitted within a fortnight.
Singh had allegedly ensured the flow of thousands of crores of loans to HDIL from PMC, though the company had defaulted on repaying either the borrowed amount or interests, since 2010. Significantly, even while functioning as chairman at PMC, Singh continued to be a director in HDIL till 2017.
