The special PMLA court on Tuesday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of builder Lalit Tekchandani, who is accused of laundering Rs423 crore collected from 1,700 buyers, till March 30.
The accused, who is the former director of Supreme Construction and Developers, was arrested on March 18. He was produced before the court on the same day, which granted his custody to the ED till Tuesday. The central agency sought his custody's extension, saying it's needed for further probe.
The ED contended that Tekchandani's family held 100% shares in Supreme Construction and Developers Pvt Ltd. He was the director of the company till April 2016 when he started to relinquish the shares held by his family members to the kin of the current director Manulla Kanchwala.
During 2009-10, the said company entered into an agreement to purchase land at Taloja, Navi Mumbai, to develop a residential project under the state government's rental housing scheme. Tekchandani started developing the property, and in turn, his company collected Rs423 crore from the buyers. The flat possession was to be given by 2016. However, till date no house has been delivered. So far, six complaints have already been registered, after which the ED launched a probe into money laundering.
Extending Tekchandani's custody, the special court said that the investigating officer has made progress in the multi-crore case.
