Hemanshu Kishorebhai Trivedi the promoter of M/s Red Rose P L was detained by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on December 13, 2023, for violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the Kotak Mahindra Bank scam.
The Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA)/District Land Acquisition Officer (DLAO) bank account was the subject of a formal complaint filed by Gandhi Maidan P.S. Patna under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The complaint and the accompanying charge sheet claimed that fraudulent transactions totalling Rs. 31.93 Crore were carried out, and that money was embezzled using bank accounts of various shell/dummy entities, resulting in a significant loss to the government exchequer.
Following an ED investigation, it was discovered that on July 10, 2023, February 8, 2023, and August 18, 2023, u/s 19(1) of the PMLA, 2002, Sumit Kumar, the Branch Manager at the time, and his colleagues Shashikant Kumar and Mannu Singh were detained for their involvement in the money-laundering process each, and on September 5, 2023, a Prosecution Complaint was submitted against the three accused individuals mentioned above.
The ED investigation also showed that Himanshu Kirishbhai Trivedi, the promoter of M/s Red Rose P L, was actively involved in embezzling public funds from CALA cum DLAO’s bank accounts at Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Exhibition Road Branch in Patna and diverting those funds to several shell and dummy companies.
According to an ED probe, the money of Rs. 8.77 crore was embezzled through Red Rose P L’s NKG Co-operative Bank account in Mumbai, out of a total of Rs. 31.93 crore. The sum was then changed into cash and returned to the defendant.
Hemanshu Kishorebhai Trivedi was brought before the Honorable Special PMLA Court in Patna on December 13, 2023. He was placed in judicial custody till December 23, 2023, after which the Honorable PMLA Court, by order dated December 20, 2023, returned him to ED custody for five days. Additional research is currently being conducted.
