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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached shares worth Rs 127.33 crore in two of Haryana's Panchkula based hospitals, Alchemist Hospital and Ojas Hospital, owned by Karan Deep Singh, son of former Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh, as part of its action in an ongoing money laundering case, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the ED's Delhi Zonal Office attached these shares under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attachment forms part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering involving Alchemist Group, its directors, promoters, and associated entities, in relation to large-scale fraud and the misappropriation of public funds. ED initiated the investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) initially registered by the Kolkata Police, and subsequently by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Alchemist Township Pvt Ltd, Alchemist Infra Realty Pvt Ltd, and promoter and directors of the Alchemist Group, including Kanwar Deep Singh and others. ED said that the case pertains to a "large-scale criminal conspiracy to defraud investors by illegally raising funds through fraudulent Collective Investment Schemes (CIS), offering unusually high returns, and/ or making false promises of allotting plots, flats, and villas." "Through these deceptive investment schemes, Alchemist Holdings Ltd and Alchemist Township India Ltd illegally collected approximately Rs 1,848 crore from unsuspecting investors and subsequently misappropriated the funds for unauthorised purposes," said the ED. ED's investigation has revealed that the misappropriated funds were "systematically layered through complex financial transactions involving group entities of the Alchemist Group, with the intent to conceal the illicit origin of the funds." "These tainted proceeds were ultimately used for the acquisition of shares and subsequent construction of Alchemist Hospital and Ojas Hospital. The transactions were deliberately structured to project these assets as legitimate, thereby disguising the Proceeds of Crime," said the federal agency. The ED also said that "the shares of Alchemist Hospital and Ojas Hospital are held to the extent of 40.94 per cent and 37.24 per cent, respectively, by Sorus Agritech Pvt Ltd, a company beneficially owned by Karan Deep Singh, son of Kanwar Deep Singh." Earlier in this case, Kanwar Deep Singh was arrested by ED on January 12, 2021. Thereafter, a prosecution complaint was filed by the ED before the Special Court (PMLA) in New Delhi on March 2, 2021, and a supplementary Prosecution Complaint was filed on July 19, 2024. The ED has already provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 238.42 crore through five separate provisional attachment orders. (ANI)
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