PMLA court remands Priyavrat Mandhana to ED custody in ₹975 cr loan fraud

A special PMLA court on Tuesday remanded Priyavarat Purshottam Mandhana, booked in connection with the ₹975 crore bank loan fraud case against the Mandhana Industries Limited (MIL), to Enforcement Directorate custody till August 2

MUMBAI: A special PMLA court on Tuesday remanded Priyavarat Purshottam Mandhana, booked in connection with the ₹975 crore bank loan fraud case against the Mandhana Industries Limited (MIL), to Enforcement Directorate custody till August 2. Priyavrat, is the son of Purushottam Mandhana, the main accused who was the managing director of MIL.

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The bank loan fraud case came to light based on the complaint filed by Bank of Baroda in Mumbai against MIL, a liquidated textile and garment manufacturing company, for allegedly defrauding a consortium of nine banks led by Bank of Baroda by diverting loan funds through fraudulent transactions and circular trading worth ₹975.08 crores.

Based on the bank’s complaint, the ED had registered a case against Purushottam Mandhana, Manish Mandhana, Biharilal Mandhana, unknown public servants and others for conspiring to cause loss to the banks and for acquiring wrongful gains by fraudulently diverting funds.

As per the ED’s investigation on the Bank accounts of MIL, the proceeds of crime were allegedly transferred to the bank account of Priyavarat Mandhana, allegedly generating proceeds of crime worth ₹6.46 crore. When he was enquired regarding the same, the prosecution pointed out that Mandhana remained elusive and failed to give clear answers. The prosecution listed various dummy companies which were allegedly used by the Mandhana family for layering of funds.

Priyavarat, who was the vice president of MIL, allegedly used entities, by the name of Balaji corporation, Azarel Fashion, Swarathma Gartex, among others, to layer funds and siphon off money. While seeking his police custody for 14 days, the prosecution submitted that his arrest is necessary to understand the modus operandi and to unearth the proceeds of crime. They noted that he is involved in the alleged money laundering case as he utilised the proceeds of crime for his personal benefit, causing wrongful loss to public money.

The agency had earlier, on June 26 and July 5, carried out search operations in the case that led to the alleged recovery of certain crucial incriminating documents, including multiple property documents, many digital devices, among others. Further, gold jewellery worth around ₹3 crore, high-end cars, including Lexus, Mercedes Benz and multiple expensive watches, including brands like Rolex and Hublot, were also seized or frozen.