The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties in a case of illegal sale and alienation of lands of housing co-operative societies in Madhya Pradesh. These properties, which according to the agency are now worth close to Rs 500 crore, have been attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
At the time when the money was siphoned off from various housing co-operative societies located in Indore, these properties were worth only Rs 22 crore, it added.
The ED probe is based on several FIRs lodged by the Indore police alleging the illegal sale and alienation of the lands of housing co-operative societies by accused Dilip Sisodiya, alias Deepak Jain Madd in connivance with others.
According to the ED, the land parcels were initially acquired by housing cooperative societies from the state government to allot housing plots to their members. However, they were fraudulently sold to various accused individuals, causing considerable losses to the societies and depriving their members of their rightful ownership of plots.
In addition to the fraudulent land grabbing, several instances of defrauding societies by siphoning off movable assets such as bank accounts have also come to the attention of the ED. The agency arrested Dilip Sisodiya on June 3, 2023, and later filed a prosecution complaint against him. He is currently in judicial custody.
