Homebuyers 'fraud' case ED files charge sheet against Raheja builders promoters' family

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a charge sheet against real estate firm Raheja Developers, its main promoter Navin Raheja and his family on money laundering charges linked to an alleged multi-crore fraud involving homebuyers.

    In a statement, the central agency said the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) was filed before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Saket.

    It added that confiscation of assets worth current market value of Rs 2,399.65 crore (Rs 810 crore book value) has also been sought in the charge sheet.

    The accused arraigned in the charge sheet include Raheja Developers Ltd (RDL), its managing director Navin Raheja, his son Nayan Raheja, daughter Nayana Singhania, wife Nirmal Raheja, and 16 other persons and entities.

    According to the ED, the money laundering case stems from FIRs filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police and Gurugram Police based on complaints from homebuyers.

    These buyers paid for flats and commercial units in the group's projects such as Raheja Revanta, Atlantis, Navin Minar and The Delhi Mall but received neither possession nor a refund.

    The agency alleged RDL collected Rs 2,699 crore from about 4,600 homebuyers and investors in its residential and commercial projects in Delhi and Gurugram on the promise of timely delivery.

    "Instead of being used for construction, Rs 1,353.26 crore has so far been identified as proceeds of crime -“ Rs. 1,175.86 crore taken out of the project, escrow, and RERA accounts for purposes other than construction, and Rs 177.40 crore collected from homebuyers in cash outside the registered agreements," the ED said.

    Most projects of the group remain incomplete, it claimed.

    Raheja Developers had earlier said that the delay in its Gurugram project "Raheja Revanta" was primarily due to a lack of essential government infrastructure, despite fully paying the required charges.

    It had said possession of the 61-storey structure cannot be safely delivered without critical services like water, electricity, sewerage, and firefighting systems.

    According to the ED, homebuyers' money was "diverted" to group companies and to companies run through employees and their relatives acting as nominee directors. This money was also used to buy land in the names of these companies and was moved through RERA accounts from one project to another.

    The agency said all the four Raheja family members "deliberately did not join" the searches conducted in this case in June and also did not join the investigation upon being summoned.

    It added that Nayan Raheja's anticipatory bail application was rejected by a special PMLA court (Saket) in September and later the Delhi High Court also dismissed his plea in October.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)