NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Ashish Bhalla, the promoter of the Delhi-NCR-based realty group WTC, in a money laundering case linked to homebuyers' funds, official sources said on Friday.
Bhalla was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday, with a Gurugram special court granting six days of ED custody.
The ED claims that WTC misappropriated depositors' funds after promising guaranteed returns on plots and commercial spaces. These funds were allegedly transferred to various shell companies for land acquisitions.
The agency stated that substantial sums were diverted to questionable entities in Singapore, which are beneficially owned by Bhalla's family members.
Investigations revealed that the WTC group accumulated over Rs 3,000 crore from investors across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Punjab.
The ED conducted raids on the premises of WTC Group, Bhalla, and Bhutani Group along with its promoter Ashish Bhutani on February 27.
The agency noted that Bhalla avoided authorities during the raids and discouraged key individuals from assisting with the investigation.
The ED identified him as the primary beneficiary and orchestrator of the group's fraudulent activities, who gained unlawfully through the scheme.
The investigation originated from numerous FIRs filed by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing and Faridabad police against WTC group and its promoters including Ashish Bhalla, Suparna Bhalla, Abhijeet Bhalla, Bhutani Infra and others, concerning fraud against numerous homebuyers.
These police cases were registered following complaints from hundreds of homebuyers and investors.
Bhutani Infra announced last week that it had ended all associations with WTC Group and was cooperating with the ED investigation. The WTC group offered no response.
The ED reported that police FIRs accused WTC Faridabad Infrastructure Private Limited and its promoters of enticing public investment in their Sector 111-114 project for residential plots.
The promoters allegedly conspired to misappropriate plot buyers' money by failing to complete the project within the promised timeframe and not delivering plots for over a decade.
The FIRs also claimed that Bhutani Infra group's acquisition of WTC and project relaunch in Sector 111-114, Faridabad, left plot buyers uncertain and allegedly defrauded investors by encouraging unit surrender.
During searches, documents revealing fund collection exceeding Rs 3,500 crore from investors across 15 Delhi-NCR projects were discovered. The ED did not specify the location of these findings.
The agency reported seizing various incriminating documents related to fund diversion, property documents, laptops and hard drives.
"Additionally, assets to the tune of thousands of crore (of rupees) have been identified in the name of WTC group," it said.
The ED has frozen WTC group companies' fixed deposits and seized jewellery and bullion worth Rs 1.5 crore.
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