Enforcement Directorate raids DLF premises in money laundering probe involving Supertech Group

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted extensive searches at the premises of DLF in Gurugram. This raid was done as part of an ongoing investigation into a money laundering case against real estate company Supertech and its promoters.

ED has recovered some crucial documents during the searches that were carried out over the past few days.

In June 2023, the ED arrested Supertech promoter Ram Kishor Arora regarding this case.

There were allegations against Arora that he was the main person who decided to divert crores of rupees from investors to different shell companies.

The Supertech Group money laundering case has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). There were at least 26 FIRs filed by the police departments against Supertech Limited and its group of companies. They were accused of cheating 670 customers for an amount of Rs 164 crore.

According to ED, Supertech Group had siphoned off hundreds of crores. Supertech had also failed to uphold their agreed obligations to provide flats to customers on time.

Ed claimed that Supertech Group stole Rs 440 crore received from customers and homebuyers for purchasing land in Gurugram in 2013-14 at high prices while their pre-promised projects in Noida were not completed.

A new project was launched in Gurugram, and further money was collected from various homebuyers. Supertech Group even took loans from banks and NBFCs, which became non-performing assets and were later declared frauds by the banks.

Supertech Ltd. was formed in 1988 and mainly operates in the Delhi-NCR area.

They have delivered more than 80,000 apartments since their existence. The firm is currently building around 25 projects across the Delhi-NCR region. Supertech Group has not given flat possessions to more than 20,000 customers.

In August 2022, the twin towers—Apex and Ceyane—located on the Noida Expressway were demolished as per the instructions of the Supreme Court. These twin towers were constructed by Supertech Group, and the court found these constructions within the Emerald Court premises to be in violation of certain norms.

Supertech promoter Arora had said that the demolition of the twin towers in Noida made the company suffer a loss of Rs 500 crore, which included construction and interest costs.

In March 2023, the company experienced another significant setback. This occurred as a result of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directing the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Supertech Ltd. The directive stemmed from a petition lodged by the Union Bank of India, citing non-payment of dues totaling approximately Rs 432 crore.