The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 904 crore of the DSK Group under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
ED officials said Deepak S Kulkarni alias DSK, a real estate developer and chairman, MD of DSK Group; his wife Hemanti D Kulkarni who is the group president and their son Shirish D Kulkarni cheated more than 35,000 people of Rs 1,129 crore in a deposit scheme.
“Investigation disclosed the trio and others conspired themselves and formed eight partnership firms – DS Kulkarni and Company; DS Kulkarni and Associates; DS Kulkarni and Brothers; DS Kulkarni and Sons; DSK and Sons; DSK and Association; DSK Construction; DSK Enterprises – under the veil of DSKDL with the sole motive of collecting funds from people in Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, and other cities,” read a statement by ED.
ED said although these eight partnership firms did not have any profit generating business, the trio, between 2006 to 2017, with the connivance of others dishonestly induced the public and collected funds from them in guise of different deposit schemes. The partnership firms are part and parcel of the money trail that the trio established with others. They systematically layered and integrated the funds collected by these eight partnership firms. This was done through high-value sham transactions under capital borrowing, advances against property and director’s loan between more than 40 group companies of DSK Group to project it as untainted money. The money was finally laundered to DSKDL, DSK Global Education, DSK Southern, DSK Motors, DSK Developer Corporation (USA) and other DSK Group of Companies into the bank accounts of Deepak, Hemanti, Shirish and close relatives or family members of DSK.
“The laundered money was further utilised to purchase land in India and abroad (USA); in different construction projects of DSKDL/subsidiary of DSKDL, for operative expenditure of group companies of DSK group; for repayment of bank loan; to purchase land in the name of Hemanti, Shirish, close relatives or family members of DSK; for payment of premium of high value life insurance policies and for conspicuous consumption,” said ED.
Investigations revealed that DSKDL purchased land worth Rs 332 crore in Fursungi between 2006 to 2009 for development of SEZ projects. But, in the land deal, agriculturists only got Rs 147.85 crore and the remaining was siphoned off to Hemanti.
[“source-“hindustantimes”]