The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached 126 immovable properties worth Rs 5,046.91 crore in Punjab and Delhi. This action part of its ongoing probe into an alleged large-scale financial fraud linked to a collective investment scheme run by PACL Ltd and related entities.
The agency said these properties were acquired using investor funds and are treated as Proceeds of Crime. With this, the ED has so far attached movable and immovable assets worth about Rs 22,656.91 crore. These include properties in India and overseas linked to PACL, its entities, and individuals.
The ED said its Delhi zonal office carried out the attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in New Delhi on February 19, 2014, under Sections 120-B and 420 of the IPC.
The FIR was filed following directions from the Supreme Court. Later, the CBI filed a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet against 33 accused, including individuals and companies, for running an illegal investment scheme.
According to the ED, the accused operated a large illegal collective investment scheme and collected over Rs 48,000 crore from lakhs of investors across India. This was done under the pretext of selling and developing agricultural land.
“Investors were induced to invest under Cash Down Payment and Instalment Payment Plans, and were made to sign misleading documents such as agreements, powers of attorney and other instruments. In most cases, land was never delivered, and approximately Rs 48,000 crore remains unpaid to investors,” the agency said.
The ED added that the scheme used multiple front entities and reverse sale transactions to hide the fraud and generate illegal gains. After the FIR, the Supreme Court, in its February 2, 2016 order, asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to form a committee under former Chief Justice Justice RM Lodha. The committee was tasked with selling PACL land and returning the money to investors.
However, the ED said further probe found continued illegal disposal of PACL assets. This led to three more FIRs by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, Jawahar Circle Police Station in Jaipur, and Attibele Police Station in Bengaluru over illegal sale, encroachment, and misuse of land.
Searches in these cases led to the seizure of key documents such as blank sale deeds, signed cheque books, and identity papers. These indicated organised attempts to siphon off and dispose of the Proceeds of Crime.
The ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in 2016 and filed a prosecution complaint in 2018. It later filed four supplementary complaints in 2022, 2025, and 2026 against those involved in money laundering. The special PMLA court has taken cognisance of all prosecution complaints filed so far.
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