The Enforcement Directorate (ED), recently conducted raids at the establishments of a Odisha-based mining businessman, following an alleged connection with a Shimla-based entrepreneur who’s now facing a Rs 1,396 loan fraud charge. During the same, at least 10 luxury vehicles were seized by the ED. These included luxury cars and superbikes, with an estimated total worth of over 7 Crore rupees.
ED conducted these raids in the premises of Anmol Mines Pvt. Ltd. and Anmol Resources Pvt. Ltd. in Bhubaneshwar. These are parts of searches against Shakti Ranjan Dash, the managing director, for alleged connections with a money laundering case registered in Himachal Pradesh.
Luxury cars from various brands were attached in the raid. Images shared by ED on its official Twitter handle show a BMW X7, Mercedes-Benz GLC, Mini Cooper S, and an Audi A3. The X7 is the most expensive of the four and has an ex-showroom price of Rs 1.35 Crores. It seems to wear the Dravit Grey colour. Most of the seized cars have classy dark colours. Even the Mini Cooper S is finished in Black and is in fact, a new generation model. The Mercedes GLC SUV has Nautic Blue as its exterior colour.
The Audi A3 is also finished in Blue. It was originally introduced in India as a budget-friendly offering in 2014 and continued to be on sale till 2020. The car shown in these pictures shows its age.
According to reports, the seized vehicles also include a Porsche Cayenne SUV and a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. The Gold Wing is a rare find on Indian roads. It is a luxury touring motorcycle that has an ex-showroom price of almost 40 lakh rupees. Many consider it the ‘Rolls-Royce of motorcycles’.
In addition to these vehicles, officials also recovered jewellery worth 1.12 crores, documents related to immovable assets, and 13 lakh rupees in cash.
A 1,396-crore bank fraud involving Himachal Pradesh-based Indian Technomac Company Ltd (ITCOL) is now being actively investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. This case originally stems from an FIR against ITCOL and its leaders. They siphoned off loans taken from a consortium led by Bank of India. ITCOL allegedly obtained loans using forged project reports and diverted the money for other purposes. Dash allegedly helped ITCOL promoters launder these using his mining companies.
“Dash knowingly assisted in laundering the proceeds of crime and attempted to legitimise them through corporate entities he controlled,” An ED official reportedly told the Hindustan Times, also requesting anonymity.
Recently, the Directorate of Enforcement had busted a fake call center that was scamming American citizens and looting their money. In raids conducted by the ED, several luxury cars and SUVs were seized.
These included Mercedes sedans (E Class and the S Class), Mercedes GLS SUV, BMW i7 electric luxury sedan, Range Rover Sport, Mini Cooper and a Toyota Fortuner Legender. In addition to these, luxury timepieces, multiple high-value luxury homes and gadgets were also confiscated.
Owned by three young individuals, the ‘illegal’ call centers (based in Gurgaon and Delhi) scammed as much as $15 million (over Rs 130 crore) from foreign citizens, in the last 2-3 years.
In July this year, another raid was conducted in Rajasthan, as part of the investigation on a 100+ Crore scam. In it, several high-end luxury cars and SUVs were seized. These included Rolls-Royce Phantom, Bentley Mulsanne, Toyota Land Cruiser, and a Mercedes Benz G-Wagen with Brabus kit. In addition to this, an unaccounted sum of Rs 78 Lakh was also attached by the ED.