LUCKNOW: On Friday, the Lucknow zonal office of the Directorate of Enforcement provisionally attached 75 immovable properties and two movable properties valued at Rs 158.85 crore, with a current market valuation exceeding Rs 350 crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as part of a money laundering investigation related to Rohtas Project Limited and associated entities.
The immovable properties, valued at Rs 141.21 crore, are registered under the names of Deepak Rastogi, promoter of the Rohtas group, and various entities including Vardan Township Pvt Ltd and several benamidars. The movable properties, valued at Rs 17.64 crore, belong to M/s Highness Infra Developers Pvt Ltd, with all immovable properties situated in Lucknow.
M/s Rohtas Project Limited promoted township schemes allowing customers to book different-sized plots or flats. After 30 months from booking, customers could either take possession or receive 150% of the booking amount. However, these projects were either not developed or the funds were not returned to the customers.
Sources from the Enforcement Directorate revealed that the Rohtas group promoters diverted the funds collected from buyers to purchase land through their associate companies and benamidars. Benami lands owned by Rohtas Group were transferred to Adhyaye Realty Infrastructure LLP, with Deepak Rastogi acquiring some of these lands and mortgaging them with banks.
