MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently issued an eviction notice to builder Lalit Tekchandani, demanding that he vacate his attached properties so that the agency could take possession.
Tekchandani approached the Bombay High Court which directed the ED lawyer to instruct the investigating officers not to issue such notices before the expiration of the mandatory time period during which the affected party can challenge the adjudication authority’s order before the appellate tribunal.
This is the third instance of such notices being issued by the ED in separate money laundering cases, with a similar case involving actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra. In the Shilpa Shetty case, the ED had assured the court that it would not execute the notice until the couple approached the appellate tribunal to challenge the adjudication authority’s order. Tekchandani, represented by JTG legal firm, filed an application on similar grounds.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation against Tekchandani based on two FIRs registered by Taloja police station and Chembur police station.
It was alleged that Supreme Construction & Developer Pvt Ltd (SCDPL), a company controlled by Tekchandani and others, collected Rs 400 crore from several homebuyers for a housing project in Taloja, Navi Mumbai.
However, the homebuyers were neither given flats nor was their money returned. During the investigation, the ED found that Tekchandani had alienated the properties of SCDPL despite his exit from the ownership and directorship of the company, with the assistance of other accused persons. The investigation also showed hat the accused were transferring the company’s receivables into the account of an associate entity, thereby siphoning off the funds.
As a result, the ED attached properties worth Rs. 113.5 crore in the case, including a villa at Aamby Valley, various residential and business premises in Mumbai, and land parcels in Raigarh district.
