Sahara's woes mount; now ED registers money laundering case

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Sahara group in connection with non-payment of crores of rupees to depositors as probed by capital markets regulator Sebi.

The criminal case was registered by the Mumbai zonal office of the agency after it got reports in this regard from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), official sources said.

"A case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has been registered against Sahara group. The investigations are in progress," they said.

Emails sent to Sahara group to elicit their response in this regard did not fructify.

Sahara group chief Subrata Roy was jailed in March amid a long-running dispute of his group with SEBI over repayment of over Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) to investors.

Sahara group, however, has maintained that it has repaid over 93 per cent of the investors directly.

The ED is now investigating whether these funds were laundered to create illegal assets.

The complaint has been registered by the agency based on the findings of SEBI till now, they said.

Sources said the agency would initiate action to attach some assets of the group under the PMLA, depending on the findings of the probe.