ED questions actor Sachin Joshi in connection with Omkar Developer PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned businessman and Bollywood actor Sachin Joshi in connection with the alleged money laundering case linked to the city’s prominent developer Omkar Developers

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned businessman and Bollywood actor Sachin Joshi in connection with the alleged money laundering case linked to the city’s prominent developer Omkar Developers. The questioning continued till late in the night.

Sachin J Joshi. (Viral Bhayani)

Sources said that ED officers questioned the actor regarding suspicious money transactions. However, the anti-money laundering agency did not share details of Joshi’s questioning or his role, if any, in the case.

Recently, the income-tax officials had raided Joshi’s house in Mumbai, however, the agency did not reveal the details of its ongoing probe.

Joshi, son of gutkha baron JM Joshi, was also in news for buying fugitive offender Vijaya Mallya’s Kingfisher Villa for ₹73.01 crore.

Previously promoters of Omkar Group Babulal Varma, 50 and Kamal Kishore Gupta, 62, were arrested on January 27 under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Omkar Group’s spokesperson had claimed that the Omkar Group is not in violation of any lending norms and slum approvals.

ED probe has so far revealed that Omkar Group took huge loans on a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project and later diverted the loans to the tune of ₹410 crores and did not use for intended purposes.

No work on SRA building was undertaken by the developer. The requisite rules and procedures under SRA were ignored by the accused and documents relating to names of slum-dwellers were forged to claim more FSI for mortgaging the same with banks for taking the loans, ED had stated.