The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday announced the arrest of two individuals in connection with a money-laundering investigation involving the Sahara Group and its associated entities. Jitendra Prasad Verma, a long-time group associate and real estate broker, and Vailaparampil Abraham, an executive director and member of the Sahara Group chairman's core management team, are the two people who were arrested.
According to the ED, Abraham played a key role in coordinating and facilitating the sale of Sahara Group properties, many of which allegedly involved large amounts of unaccounted cash. The agency claimed that these cash transactions were siphoned off and formed part of the proceeds of crime.Verma, on the other hand, was reportedly actively involved in executing property deals, and knowingly assisted in routing significant cash proceeds generated from these transactions.
The ED alleged that Verma’s actions contributed directly to the concealment and dissipation of illicit funds. The arrests follow a series of search operations in which the ED claimed to have uncovered incriminating evidence pointing to the clandestine disposal of Sahara Group assets. The agency stated that group properties were being sold off one by one, with Abraham and Verma playing a central role in helping promoters liquidate and siphon off assets, while the main promoters themselves remained outside India.
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The two accused were produced before a local court in Kolkata on Saturday and have been remanded to ED custody until July 14.The money-laundering case is linked to over 500 FIRs registered by various state police departments. Specifically, the ED cited three FIRs filed by police in Odisha, Bihar, and Rajasthan against Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd (HICCSL) and related individuals.
The agency said it had reviewed more than 500 complaints against various Sahara Group entities before filing a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to the ED, the Sahara Group allegedly ran a Ponzi-style scheme through multiple entities, including HICCSL, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited (SCCSL), Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Cooperative Society (SUMCS), Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (SMCSL), Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL), Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL), and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL), among others.
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The agency claimed that funds collected by these entities were managed without regulatory oversight, and maturity proceeds were often not returned to depositors.Instead, they were coerced or misled into reinvesting their funds, while financial records were manipulated to conceal the actual status of repayments. Despite the group’s financial incapacity, it continued to solicit fresh deposits, a portion of which was allegedly diverted for benami assets and personal expenditures. The ED also alleged that the sale of assets involved partial cash payments, which further obstructed legitimate claims of depositors.
Earlier this year, as part of the same investigation, the ED had provisionally attached 707 acres of land worth ₹1,460 crore in Aamby Valley, Maharashtra, and 1,023 acres of land worth ₹1,538 crore in Sahara Prime City Ltd, bringing the focus back to one of India's most controversial financial scandals. The investigation is ongoing, and further action is expected as authorities continue to uncover the financial dealings of the Sahara Group and its network of entities.
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