A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA) court on Monday sent Purushottam Chavan, husband of an Indian Police Services (IPS) officer, into judicial custody until June 7. Purshottam was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Mumbai in the Rs 263 crore Income Tax Refund (ITR) fraud case.
ED officials did not seek extension of Chavan's custody from the court on Monday, hence the court sent him to judicial custody, Chavan's lawyer Shekhar Jagtap said. The central agency has requested the court that the accused shall not be released on bail as the investigation is underway.
Another accused and businessman Rajesh Brijlal Batreja was also sent into judicial custody along with Chavan.
The ED mentioned in its remand copy that during the custodial interrogation, Purushottam Chavan, the husband of an IPS officer, was not cooperating on being confronted with various records and documents seized during the two raids at the IPS officer's official residence. The accused chose not to disclose the true facts about the seized property documents worth Rs 150 crore. According to sources, it is suspected that these could be benami assets created in the names of other individuals.
Additionally, when Purushottam was confronted with the other accused Rajesh Batreja, he did not provide details of how much funds he had actually received, nor the mode and manner of receiving the funds and their further utilization.
According to the ED investigation, a third Dubai-based partner was identified. During the confrontation of Chavan with Rajesh Brijlal Batreja, it was established that the accused Chavan received proceeds of crime (POC) from Rajesh Batreja, which were earlier siphoned off to Dubai and then brought back to India through hawala channels with the help of Purushottam's Dubai-based partner.
In the 263 crore fraud case ED arrested the main accused Tanaji Mandal Adhikari last year during the investigation revealed that he generated Rs. 263.95 crore in proceeds of crime (POC) from the Income Tax Department between November 15, 2019, and November 4, 2020. Rajesh Batreja played a key role in diverting Rs 55.50 crore of this amount, converting it into cash, and helping Adhikari conceal the funds by transferring them to Dubai. During Batreja’s custodial interrogation, his transactions with Purushottam Chavan were uncovered. Further investigation revealed that Batreja transferred a significant amount of the POC to IPS official's hubby Chavan in cash.
The central agency has twice raided the IPS' official residence in Colaba, seizing several incriminating property documents suspected to include benami properties. The ED seized property documents worth approximately Rs. 150 crore, registered in the names of multiple individuals. These documents also included Transferable Development Rights (TDR) for land parcels in Mumbai and Pune.
