During the Enforcement Directorate's investigation in the PMLA case of IRS Sachin Sawant, it discovered significant cash flows allegedly inked to various illegal firms, companies, land purchases, and bank transactions, all associated with suspicious activities and substantial assets registered under his and his family members' names.
The names of Sawant's brother and father also figure in the chargesheet. The expenditures incurred by them were disproportionate to their legal sources of income.
Shell Company Property Acquisition
According to the ED chargesheet, during their investigation, it was revealed that a flat in Sea Queen Heritage CHS, Sanpada, was registered under the name of M/s. Seven Hills Constrowell (India) Pvt. Ltd in which Balasaheb Sawant, father of Sachin Sawant, was the director. However, the ED found that this company was, in fact, a shell company, with its registered office located in chawl in Dadar East, consisting of only one small room bearing the company's name but not operational. The investigation further revealed that the source of funds for the acquisition of the said property were directly/indirectly arranged by Sachin Sawant. About Rs 1.30 crore taken on the loan but loan payment was paid in cash.
Financial Manoeuvring through Loans
According to the chargesheet, Sachin's father took multiple loans from diffrent banks- around Rs 1.10 crore rupees, and transferred the money to the shell company, and then repaid the loans using cash generated from Sachin's unexplained sources of income. This was done to make the tainted money appear clean. Sachin Sawant and his wife were actually owning and residing in the flat at Sanpada.
During the investigation, it was uncovered that in 2020, a property in Adarsh Co-operative Society, Dadar (E), was acquired by Sandeep Sawant and his wife Archana. The property's declared price was Rs. 2.65 crores, but it was registered for Rs. 1.77 crores, with the remaining difference paid in cash. The rest of the funds came from the sale of a property in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai. These funds were transferred through bank accounts. Additionally, Sandeep Sawant obtained a loan of Rs. 36 lakhs from HDFC bank in 2020, which was fully repaid. These findings suggest Sachin Sawant's alleged involvement Directly/Indirectly in the property purchase in his brother and sister-in-law's names.
Agricultural Land Purchase
During the course of investigation, it has also been revealed that one agricultural land measuring 1.25 hectares in Sangli was purchased in 2020 for the consideration price of Rs. 7,05,000/- in the name of Mrs .
Alka Sawant, mother of Sachin Sawant. It was revealed during the investigation that Mrs Alka Sawant is a housewife and she has no sources of income. The source of funds for the acquisition of the property was arranged from the funds of Sachin Sawant who majorly used to deposit the cash earned from unexplained sources of income in his bank accounts maintained with multiple banks and the said cash was infused in the immovable properties purchased in the name of his wife.
During the investigation Balasaheb Sawant mentioned that he had a property Loan of Rs 36 lakhs and agricultural Loan of Rs 18.46 lakhs. loan.He said the loans were repaid in cash.
Cash Transfers and Payments
The chargesheet reveals that Rs 4.11 crore rupees cash were transferred by Sachin Sawant for various purposes, including settling the loan amount for the Sanpada and Dadar property purchases, addressing various transaction-related obligations, transferring salaries to family members via shell companies, multiple transactions involving his brother Sandeep and his wife's accounts, down payments and EMI payments for the purchase of expensive cars registered under different names.
Ownership of Cars
The probe revealed several suspicious transactions , including a BMW car purchased from Bavaria Motors, Pune, for Rs. 44,12,709/- (plus Rs. 6,55,282/-) in 2016 and registered in the name of one Manoj Kumar Lunkad. Furthermore, an Endeavour car and a Hyundai i20 were also purchased by two other individuals on behalf of Sachin Sawant. According to the chargesheet, Sachin Sawant is the actual owner of these cars, and he regularly made cash payments towards their EMIs.
