ED tackles the land mafia and returns plots to rightful owners | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: In a first attempt, the Enforcement Directorate went after a group of land grabbers in Chennai who had encroached on a plot worth Rs 13 crore in Saidapet area and returned it to its owner, a major development in light of several such cases of It takes decades for the usurpation to be resolved, and many of them remain unresolved.
These land grabbers had sold the encroached property to a third party by forging documents and fraudulently claiming ownership. Though an FIR was registered in the case by the Chennai police in 2009, not much progress was made.
Subsequently, ED registered a case in 2017 under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA), attached the property, traced the money trail to establish the proceeds of crime, filed a complaint and with the permission of the court, returned the land to the owner.
“The current value of the property stands at Rs 12.7 crore and its restitution to the rightful claimant and the victim marks an important step in ED’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the proceeds of crime are returned to the those affected,” the agency said on Monday.
ED is investigating a number of land grabbing cases in different parts of the country and is in the process of returning them to their rightful owners. The recovery of assets and money to individual victims of scams began with the disbursement of nearly Rs 12 crore in attached fixed deposits (FDs) from the Rose Valley Group from companies in Calcutta to around 22 lakh small depositors, who had filed their claims before a court-monitored committee.
In August, ED returned at least 78 apartments worth over Rs 20 crore to homebuyers of SRS group’s SRS Pearl, SRS City and SRS Prime in Gurgaon. This was just the beginning as the agency has seized properties worth Rs 2,215 crore from the SRS group… The refund process began following a directive from SC and the Punjab and Haryana HC.
In another case, the agency has allowed sale and reimbursement of Rs 185 crore worth of attached properties of the Jammu-based company. Surya pharmaceutical products to SBI in a money laundering case against the company and its directors.