ED attaches assets worth ₹34.51 crore in US Club misappropriation case

The attached assets belong to Bernadette Varma, the club’s former deputy secretary (finance), her husband Bharatkumar Varma, and others

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹34.51 crore in a money-laundering probe into the alleged siphoning of ₹77 crore from the elite United Services Club in Colaba.

ED attaches assets worth ₹34.51 crore in US Club misappropriation case

The agency’s investigation is based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Mumbai police in February 2025. The attached assets belong to Bernadette Varma, the club’s former deputy secretary (finance), her husband Bharatkumar Varma, and others. These include flats, shops and fixed deposits in Mumbai valued at around ₹34.51 crore.

The ED’s probe has revealed that Bernadette allegedly connived with her husband to open dummy bank accounts in names closely resembling those of the club’s regular vendors. She is accused of diverting the club’s funds, worth ₹77 crore, into these accounts. The money, classified as proceeds of crime, was then allegedly routed through several personal and joint accounts of the couple, their family members and associates, officials said.

Investigators found that the couple used the funds to acquire immovable properties and open fixed deposits with various banks. About ₹11 crore was also allegedly transferred to the account of a trust, from where it was further diverted to bank accounts linked to chartered accountant CP Pandey, his family members, and firms controlled by him.

The United Services Club, an elite military club established in 1937 in Colaba, is jointly managed by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. It occupies a prime seaside location in south Mumbai with a nearly 1-km-long promenade.