ED Attaches Assets Worth ₹81.88 Crore in ₹764 Crore Bank Fraud Case

ED Puts Assets Worth ₹81.88 Crore in ₹764 Crore Bank Fraud Case on Vindhyavasini Group Promoters

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable properties valued at ₹81.88 crore provisionally in the ongoing investigation into a high-profile case of bank fraud by Vijay Gupta and Ajay Gupta, promoters of the Vindhyavasini Group of Companies. The step comes in wake of allegations that the accused had inflicted huge ₹764.44 crore loss to the State Bank of India (SBI).

The probe, which was carried out by the ED and CBI together, has found that the Gupta brothers and their co-accused hatched a conspiracy to cheat SBI by procuring loans and credit facilities using spurious and fake documents. The loans were allegedly approved on the basis of wrong information, and the money was then laundered for personal enrichment and other unauthorized uses.

As per ED sources, Vijay and Ajay Gupta, along with some bank officials, chartered accountants, loan consultants, and other accomplices, were able to obtain different loans in the name of various companies under the Vindhyavasini Group. The money, amounting to more than ₹764 crore, was diverted, mostly by creating over 50 shell companies to money-launder the proceeds of crime. The accused allegedly withdrew around ₹42 crore in cash from such funds and utilized the ill-gotten gains to purchase immovable properties in their own names, family members’ names, and benami properties.

The ED inquiry is based on complaints lodged by the CBI’s Mumbai unit, which handles white-collar crime, against several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Vijay Gupta was arrested on March 26 this year and is in judicial custody.

This major enforcement operation reflects the efforts of the authorities to clamp down on large-scale financial scams and money laundering by influential business groups and their syndicates. Additional investigations are ongoing to disentangle the full scope of the unlawful financial practices and to seize the proceeds of crime.