₹3,339-cr assets restored to Ponzi scheme victims

In one of the largest restitution efforts by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency announced Monday it has “accomplished the process” of returning properties worth ₹3,339 crore to victims of the Agri Gold Group of companies’ ponzi schemes.

Restitution, in legal and financial enforcement terms, refers to the process of returning fraudulently acquired assets to their rightful owners after such assets have been seized during investigations.

The Agri Gold ponzi cases involved 3.2 million victims, with the current market value of the restituted properties estimated at over ₹6,000 crore, the agency said.

The ED’s money laundering investigation against the Agri Gold group, launched in 2018, was based on multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) filed across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

According to allegations, the companies collected deposits from approximately 3.2 million account holders, promising high returns or residential plots as part of a real estate investment scheme.

“Agri Gold ran fraudulent collective investment scheme in the guise of real estate business, for which more than 130 companies were floated,” the ED said in a statement Monday. “These companies used to collect deposits as ‘advances for plots’ from depositors, without commensurate land being available with the company. By adhering to this business model, the accused lured lakhs of gullible persons and got deposits from them. These funds were thereafter diverted to various industries like power or energy, dairy, entertainment, health (ayurvedic), farmland ventures etc, without the knowledge of the depositors and the companies defaulted in returning the deposits either in cash or in kind as agreed upon.”

The ED revealed that thousands of commission agents were engaged by the Agri Gold group to attract investors. These agents collected approximately ₹6,380 crore from more than 3.2 million investor accounts.

The agency added the properties were worth ₹3,339 crore approximately at the time of attachment. “The present market value of the impugned properties is expected to be more than ₹6,000 crore,” the agency stated.

The attached assets include more than 2,300 parcels of agricultural land, residential or commercial plots and apartments as well as an amusement Park in the name of ‘Haailand’ at Chinnakakani, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. Out of the total 2,310 attached immovable properties, 2254 are in Andhra Pradesh, 43 in Telangana, 11 in Karnataka and 2 in Odisha, the ED statement detailed.

In December 2020, it arrested three individuals associated with the Agro Group—Avva Venkata Rama Rao, Avva Venkata Seshu Narayana Rao, and Avva Hema Sundara Vara Prasad—and filed a charge sheet against them.

In December last year, the federal agency filed a restitution application under Section 8(8) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before the special court in Hyderabad. The application sought release of attached movable and immoveable properties to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh, so that these can be restored to the victims under the Andhra Pradesh Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments (APPDFE) Act, 1999.

The court allowed this through an order on February 21, 2025.

“This restitution exercise marks a significant step in ED’s efforts to restore properties to their rightful claimants and to ensure that proceeds of crime (POC) are returned to those affected,” the agency’s Monday statement said.

The federal agency has previously restituted properties worth over ₹25,000 crore to private victims or banks in various money laundering cases, including investigations against Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, and Vijay Mallya.