Lalu aide seeks transfer of case to SC; court issues notice to ED

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by Amit Katyal - allegedly a close aide of former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who has been accused of cheating investors in a housing project - seeking transfer of his case to the apex court.

The apex court has also asked ED why the case against Katyal, who was last arrested in Nov, should not be transferred to SC from the special PMLA court in Gurgaon. The court posted the matter for hearing on Feb 23. The case was listed before a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi.

Katyal was first arrested in 2023 in the railways jobs-for-land 'scam', in which Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, their three daughters, and son and former Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav are the other accused, facing bribery and laundering charges.

The agency was taken by surprise when Katyal moved SC seeking interim relief, even though his case was pending before the special court, where other cases against him are also pending for adjudication and framing of charges.

In Nov, Katyal was arrested in the alleged real estate fraud related to Angle Infrastructure Pvt Ltd of which he is the promoter-director. ED's case is based on FIRs registered by Gurugram and Delhi Police for alleged non-delivery of flats in his Krrish Florence Estate project in Gurgaon's Sector 70.

"Investigation revealed that he (Katyal) obtained license from another developer in a fraudulent manner and started collecting funds from prospective buyers much before grant of license from DTCP Haryana with total proceeds of crime generated from the activity exceeding Rs 300 crore," ED had said. The project was left incomplete for more than 10 years with only three towers constructed but not completed, and the same had resulted into initiation of insolvency proceedings by homebuyers' association.

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