Mumbai, Nov 27: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out search operations at 21 locations, including multiple premises in Mumbai, as part of its probe into alleged money laundering by Aarudhra Gold Trading Pvt Ltd (AGTPL), officials said on Thursday.
In parallel, the ED’s Chennai zonal office conducted searches across Chennai, Kancheepuram, and Kolkata under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
During the multi-city operation, the agency seized Rs 22 lakh in cash and property documents valued at over Rs 1.5 crore, and recovered incriminating documents, digital records linked to investments, property assets, and suspected fund layering.
The ED operation follows an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Chennai, under provisions of the IPC, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, and the RBI Act. According to the FIR, Aarudhra Gold Trading Pvt Ltd (AGTPL) allegedly collected massive public deposits by promising unusually high monthly returns of 10–30%, along with incentives such as monthly payouts, gold coins, and referral commissions of 2% on deposits up to Rs 5 lakh.
The EOW, Chennai, has already filed a chargesheet against 40 individuals and entities, including AGTPL’s group companies, directors, senior employees, and field agents. Police records indicate that 1,04,433 depositors have been affected, with claims submitted for about Rs 2,438 crore as of June 2023. The default amount has been quantified at Rs 1,404 crore. The main accused, V. Rajasekhar, continues to remain absconding along with his wife.
ED, during its investigation under PMLA, analysed several bank accounts of AGTPL and connected entities/persons and found total credits and debits of approximately Rs 2,000 crore. There were around 1,230 high-value debit transactions exceeding Rs 10 lakh each, totalling about Rs 1,060 crore. Further scrutiny suggests the transactions involved circular movement of funds across various AGTPL accounts and diversion of public deposits for personal or non-business use.
Statements recorded from several individuals who carried out large-value transactions with the company have indicated further diversion of funds, the agency said.
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During Wednesday’s searches, the ED found that several individuals listed as AGTPL directors were merely “dummy directors” engaged in menial jobs and had no role in the company’s operations.
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