A 40% share of the hotel project (1,40,000 square feet of floor space) within the commercial complex known as “Garden’s Galleria” in Noida has been temporarily assigned to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). The Unitech M/s Ranchero Services Limited, Cyprus-based firm that is a benami foreign subsidiary of Chandras, the promoter of the Unitech Group, controlled the attached asset, which had a value of 65.32 crore.
According to the ED investigation, in the years 2007–2008, Unitech Group invested USD 8 million in Unitech Hotels Private Limited via a benami entity called M/s Ranchero Services Limited, Cyprus. Investigations discovered that Chandra’s owned M/s Ranchero Services Limited, Cyprus, and that it was being administered on their behalf through a foreign trust.
ED has detained five people as part of the investigation: Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra, Ramesh Chandra, Preeti Chandra, and Rajesh Malik. The Honourable PMLA Court has already taken note of two prosecution complaints that the ED has so far filed. A variety of domestic and foreign assets worth a combined total of 1132.55 crores have been attached under Vide 16 Provisional Attachment Orders, which also includes the present attachment. Assets from the Carnoustie Group, Shivalik Group, Trikar Group, as well as those from Shell, Benami, and Chandras’ personal enterprises, are all included in the attachment. In this instance, more than Rs. 6500 crore in total criminal gains have been found so far. There is now an ongoing inquiry.
