The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on October 11, arrested two men who allegedly linked to the late property dealing gangster Iqbal Mirchi.
Mirchi, who was a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, allegedly purchased three assets with “proceeds of crime”, according to the ED.
The three buildings —Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion — were sold to a firm for Rs 225 crore in 2010, a sum from which Mirchi allegedly received the majority share.
The ED suspects that Mirchi, who died in London in 2013, had bought a five-star hotel in Dubai from the proceeds out of the sale of these three assets located in Worli, sources told Moneycontrol.
The assets were put under the scanner as part of the agency’s recently-initiated money-laundering probe that is based on a group of eight cases registered by the Mumbai police against Mirchi between 1984 to 1999.
The three buildings were allegedly bought from Sir Mohammed Yusuf Trust in September 1986 for an amount of Rs 6.5 lakh through Mirchi’s firm, Rockside Enterprises.
“The three properties under the scanner appear to be proceeds of crime and derived directly or indirectly from the criminal activity related to the scheduled offences covered under PMLA,” said an ED source
The ED arrested Haroun Yusuf, the then chairman of the trust, and the real-estate broker Ranjeet Singh Bindra, on accusations of “playing an active role in laundering the proceeds of the crime and hiding the criminal origins of the property,” said the source.
According to ED, Yusuf, a British national since 2004, allegedly played a crucial role in carrying out Mirchi’s illegal activities. “He was the chairman of Sir Mohd Yusuf Trust during the time the assets’ sale was carried out,” said a source.
According to the source, the ED’s searches yielded records that allegedly showed that the trust had already received the “complete payments for the deal related to the three Worli-based assets and yet the said fact was always misrepresented by the Trust in various legal forums/courts. “
The source said, “On the basis of the alleged misrepresentation, the Trust was able to restore the properties in its name after attachment under the SAFEMA. The said action of the Trust favoured Mirchi as it did not disclose the fact about the receipt of the complete payment from Mirchi in various courts.”
The second accused, Bindra, had allegedly brokered the sale of three Worli-based asets and had received around “Rs 40-50 crore” as his brokerage.”
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