Cox & Kings case: Romi Bhagat helped Ajay Kerkar in creating false narrative, derail probe: ED

ED told the court that Bhagat recorded his statement before the agency on March 16 in which he alleged that he got acquainted with Kerkar in 2019 and that the latter met him later to seek his help in lodging two FIRs with Kerkar as the complainant

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s investigation against suspected liaison agent Hiren Bhagat alias Romi in an extortion case has revealed that in September 2020 he had conspired with Ajay Peter Kerkar, former promoter of travel firm Cox & Kings, to create a false narrative and to project Kerkar as the victim and a complainant in ED’s then money-trail investigation related to the Yes Bank case.

Mumbai, India - November 27, 2020: The Enforcement Directorate had arrested debt-ridden travel firm Cox and Kings' promoter Peter Kerkar in the alleged money-laundering case, taken to Court in Mumbai, India, on Friday, November 27, 2020. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

The agency officials also alleged that the duo tried to derail the investigation wherein a substantial amount of proceeds of crime had been traced to Cox & Kings.

According to ED, Bhagat had allegedly helped Kerkar by lodging two First Information Reports (FIR) by the Nagpada police on the basis of wrong facts, as discovered by it subsequent to their registration. ED’s probe revealed that thereafter as part of an alleged quid pro quo arrangement between Bhagat and Kerkar, wherein a firm controlled by the former, Illuminati Services, received funds worth ₹71 lakh in October 2020 from a United States–based entity controlled by Kerkar, the agency on Thursday submitted to a city special court where it produced Bhagat for an extension of his custody. The court extended Bhagat’s custody with ED by a week. The ED had taken the custody of Bhagat on March 15 from the court in connection with its probe against him, based on a Bandra police’s alleged extortion case of ₹9.25 crore in which a Kerkar family member is the complainant.

In his complaints to Nagpada police, Kerkar had accused a few of his then employees of cheating and breach of trust.

ED told the court that Bhagat recorded his statement before the agency on March 16 in which he alleged that he got acquainted with Kerkar in 2019 and that the latter met him later to seek his help in lodging two FIRs with Kerkar as the complainant. Bhagat claimed he later helped Kerkar in drafting the concept of the application to lodge the FIR with the latter’s team. Bhagat admitted to having arranged to rent a premise located within the jurisdiction of the Nagpada police to allegedly “manage the jurisdiction of the FIR’’, according to ED’s remand application. “Bhagat revealed that the Nagpada police station was favourable to them and that getting the FIRs lodged on the direction of the court added a prima facie approval of the genuineness of the case,” ED told the court. The rented premise at a chawl building --- Rassiwala Chawl, Nimkar Marg --- was allegedly shown as the office address of Cox & Kings Company which helped in justifying the lodging of two FIRs in September 2020 under Nagpada police, according to ED. Bhagat told ED that he allegedly received ₹75 lakh from Kerkar in the account of a firm controlled by him, Illuminati Services.

Following Bhagat’s allegations against Kerkar in his statement, the ED recorded on March 17 the statement of the current occupant of the concerned chawl room, which was allegedly cited as the address of Cox & Kings Company, who corroborated Bhagat’s account. In his statement, the occupant said that Kerkar allegedly had signed a rental agreement with his mother to rent his family’s room, to show it as the firm’s office on paper to register an FIR with Nagapada police, in the presence of Bhagat. The room’s occupant said that despite the rental agreement, for which his family was paid ₹3 lakh, he continued to stay there during the rental contract’s period.

ED also told the court that it is probing alleged financial transactions worth more than ₹4 crore wherein money was paid from the accounts held by Kerkar and another suspect to certain entities on the directions of Bhagat. In the light of Bhagat’s and the room occupant’s allegations against Kerkar, the ED on Wednesday attempted to record his statement at Arthur Road jail where he is lodged but could not as he was due for a court appearance. ED took the court’s permission to record his statement.

According to ED, in 2020, there was an ongoing money-trail investigation it related to the Yes Bank case, wherein a substantial amount of proceeds of crime had allegedly been traced to Cox & Kings. As part of the probe, Ed had questioned Kerkar and recorded his statements on four occasions in March –June of 2020, though he had allegedly not divulged how and where the funds had been diverted. Kerkar was eventually arrested by the ED in November 2020 and has been in judicial custody for over three years subsequently. CKG was then under the ED scanner in the Yes Bank case as the former allegedly owed ₹3,642 crore to the private bank. A formal complaint against CKG was filed in March 2020 by Yes Bank.

ED had then claimed that it had arrested Kerkar in an agency case based upon the Nagpada police case, which the latter had registered on the directions of a metropolitan court, which had heard a complaint from Kerkar. ED had then told a city special court while seeking his remand that the “accused himself was a mastermind behind siphoning the proceeds of crime and he has lodged complaints against co-accused persons, with an ulterior motive to escape.” The ED had further submitted that an additional Enforcement Case Information Report was registered on November 23, 2020, wherein he was arrayed as one of the co-accused.

Kerkar’s lawyer had then rejected ED’s allegations, saying his client “had not siphoned a single pie”.