Enforcement Directorate arrests two close aides of Iqbal Mirchi

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Humayun Merchant and Rinku Deshpande, two aides of Iqbal Mirchi who allegedly handled dummy bank accounts for laundering money.

The ED took two days of custody of Humayun Merchant, who is a childhood friend of Mirchi. As per the arguments, the prosecution informed the court that Merchant had fabricated tenants to secure the properties for Mirchi.

The three prime properties, worth hundreds of crores, were Rabia Mansion, Mariam Lodge and Sea View that are located on sea front in Worli. Despite being owned by Mirchi, they were shown as belonging to Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust, which was run by another accused Haroun Yusuf.

Merchant was given the power of attorney for the three properties by Mirchi. He then showed his two sons, and other relatives as tenants of these properties, who then struck a deal for the sale of these properties with Joy Home Creations, owned by Jayant Soni. When Soni failed to pay, Ranjeet Singh Bindra, another one of the accused, brought in Sunblink Constructions to purchase the three properties for Rs 225 crore. Of this amount, Merchant was to route Rs 170 crore to Mirchi through the false tenants.

However, Merchant’s lawyer questioned the money trail of Rs 170 crore and its link to his client.

The ED confirmed in court that Merchant's son and other relatives had received Rs 127 crore of the deal, which was laundered to Dubai to Mirchi's family members, and the remaining Rs 43 crore was to be received by November this year.

The ED added that Humayun Merchant admitted to the deals and facilitated meetings of these construction companies with Mirchi in London, but he did not give details of what happened to the amount received and sent through hawala channels to Dubai. The ED Account statements, property documents to be checked and others who are involved need to be questioned.

Humayun Merchant also admitted to having six tenants in the land in question. However, he denied channeling Rs 170 crore through their accounts. The ED stated that Humayun Merchant agreed to get Rs 5 crore for acting as a confirming party, who are similar to brokers.

The ED stated that Merchant facilitated the deal between Mirchi and Sunblink Constructions, Joy Creations and then received payments for the same in accounts created in Chennai. The money was then allegedly laundered to Mirchi through hawala channels.

Humayun Merchant denied in court about any having any knowledge about the power of attorney or of funds received. He said that he had got a piece of land for the help he had provided to Mirchi in Khandala

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court sent Merchant to custody in remand till October 24

The ED’s remand report for the initial arrests pointed to the role of Rinku Deshpande. During the course of investigation, ED officials found that Ranjit Singh Bindra was to receive Rs 50 crore as brokerage for the deal between Iqbal Mirchi, Humayun Merchant and Sunblink Real Estate for sale of the three properties.

To receive the funds through market operators, Bindra roped in Rinku Deshpande, who posted as a fake confirming party and a representative of the tenants. Deshpande then received around Rs 25-30 crore in her accounts through market operators from Sunblink. Her statement, which was recorded on September 30, said that she admitted to her role and acceptance of Rs 25-30 crore from Sunblink .

She deposed to the fact that Bindra had told her that he had brokered the land deal for Dheeraj Dewan of Sunblink real estate, against which he was received Rs 40-50 crore in two transactions.

She adbmitted that the said amount of Rs 25-30 crore was part of same deal and the said fact has been corroborated by bank statements of Deshpande.