Patra Chawl case: ED attaches Wadhawans’ 2 Goa properties

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached two land parcels measuring 16,550 square metres in Goa, which are owned by HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang, as part of its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in redevelopment of Siddharth Nagar also known as Patra Chawl in Goregaon. The combined worth of the assets is estimated at ₹31.50 crore.

“The attached assets are in form of land held by Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Kumar Wadhawan, directors of M/s Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited, in Goa,” a release issued by the agency said.

The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the economic offences wing of the Mumbai police against the Wadhawans and others. The complainant in the case was an executive engineer with Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

On November 03, 2011, an agreement was signed between the housing society formed by Patra Chawl tenants, the MHADA, and Guru Ashish Construction for rehabilitation of the 672 tenants with an estimated cost of ₹1,017 crore, the ED said. Under the agreement, the rehabilitation portion was required to be completed first and the developer was also to hand over 2,28,961 square feet constructed area to the MHADA, the agency added.

Investigation found that Guru Ashish Contruction had, however, sold the entire floor space index of the rehabilitation project to nine builders and collected ₹901.79 crore from them, without constructing the rehab buildings and the MHADA portions. The developer had also collected bookings amount of around ₹138 crore from 458 flat buyers after launching a project at the site – thus taking the total proceeds of crime to ₹1,039.79 crore, the agency alleged.

The ED probe also revealed that the father-son duo, after receiving the ‘proceeds of crime’ in the bank accounts of HDIL, had diverted the money to its group companies such as GACPL, Sapphire Land Development Private Limited, Satyam Realtors etc. The money finally reached their personal bank accounts, the agency claimed.

About ₹38.5 crore from Rakesh Wadhawan’s account was utilised for pre-payments of a ₹28.5-crore loan availed from Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited at a floating interest rate of 18.5% per annum to acquire two plots of land - 1,250 square metres and 15,300 square metres - in north Goa in 2011, the ED said, adding the estimated value of the properties was ₹31.50 crore. A payment of ₹2 crore was also made to the seller of the plots from the personal account of Sarang Wadhawan, the agency alleged.