ED freezes Rs 440.42-cr lying in 3 HDFC bank accounts of TMC

ED's Kolkata zonal office freezed the amount following its search operations carried out a day ago at five premises in and around Kolkata under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, belonging to Carewell group of companies operating in the aviation sector.

"During searches, balances amounting to Rs 440.42 crore lying in 3 HDFC bank accounts of AITC have been frozen under section 17 (1-A) of PMLA, 2002," said the ED in a statement.

ED said it launched the searches in connection with an investigation under PMLA, 2002, based on an FIR lodged by the Cyber Police, Bidhannagar, West Bengal in the matter of alleged dishonest financial dealings, unlawful collection of money, and routing of suspected funds through certain bank accounts of TMC.

ED further said its investigation revealed that around Rs 160 crore was transferred from TMC bank accounts to Carewell Aviation India Pvt Ltd and its related entity, mostly between April 2023 and June 2026.

The agency further revealed that Carewell Aviation Pvt Ltd routed an amount of Rs 82.96 crore during 2023-2026 to another newly incorporated related entity for purchasing an Aircraft Embrarer Legacy 600, and one chopper, an Augusta 109 Grand New.

"An amount of Rs 112 crore was used for making the said purchases. It is also revealed that an amount of USD 1.7 million was arranged as an unsecured loan in the year 2023 from one Cayman Islands-based entity to purchase the said helicopter," mentioned the ED in its statement.

These Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft and Agusta helicopter, the federal agency further said, were subsequently rented out to TMC itself, even though they were purchased from the corpus of the party.

Thereafter, it said, substantial amounts were "transferred on the pretext of aircraft usage."

ED also added that the "dubious arrangement" is under investigation to ascertain the actual beneficial purpose of the transactions. (ANI)