On Saturday, January 23, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two people following raids on the premises of a firm promoted by a Maharashtra MLA for alleged illegal diversion of bank funds in connection with the PMC Bank fraud and money laundering case.
Mehul Thakur, managing director of the Viva Group, and Gopal Chaturvedi, a chartered accountant, were arrested under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the raids.
The action was taken against the two as they were allegedly not cooperating in the investigation. The ED sought their custody when they are produced before a local court in Mumbai on Saturday, January 23 the sources said.
On Friday, January 22, the ED conducted raids at five locations in the office premises of Directors of the Viva Group in Vasai -Virar, Palghar in connection with the PMC bank scam case. During the raid, INR 73 lakh cash, incriminating digital and documentary evidences were recovered during the operation.
Read More: ED conducts raid on office premises of underworld don Bhai Thakur in PMC bank case
As per reports, Bhai Thakur was earlier booked under TADA and was said to be once an ally of global fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. His brother Hitendra Thakur is the president of the party named Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA). Moreover, in the Maharashtra Assembly elections back in 2019, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi won all three of the seats it contested. The newly-elected MLA's are Rajesh Raghunath Patil, Kshitij Thakur, and Hitendra Thakur.
The central agency has filed a criminal case of money laundering to probe the alleged loan fraud in PMC Bank in October 2019 against Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.
It took cognisance of a Mumbai Police economic offences wing FIR against them that charged them with causing wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of INR 4,355 crore to PMC Bank and corresponding gains to themselves.
The raids were conducted to collect more evidence after it was found that the Wadhawans in connivance with Viva Group has diverted more than INR 160 crore from HDIL to many companies and entities belonging to Viva Group in the garb of commission.
The ED had earlier questioned Varsha Raut, the wife of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in the PMC case for alleged transfer of INR 55 lakh suspect funds as interest-free loan into her account by Madhuri Raut, the wife of Pravin Raut, another accused in the case.
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