ED attaches Rs 53.28 crore in hotels, flats linked to retired Assam DIG PK Dutta in PMLA probe

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has issued a provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), provisionally attaching immovable properties valued at approximately Rs 53.28 crore in the case relating to Prasanta Kumar Dutta, a retired DIG of the Assam Police, and his family members and group companies.

The ED initiated an investigation based on a case registered by the Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Branch of the Assam Police, under Sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which are offences listed under the PMLA.

As per the FIR, during his service period from 1992 to 2019, Prasanta Kumar Dutta amassed assets grossly disproportionate to his known sources of income. As against the disclosed income of the officer and his wife of about Rs 7.23 crore and disclosed expenditure of about Rs 9.04 crore, undisclosed assets of about Rs 77.21 crore were found, with the net disproportionate assets reasonably ascertained at approximately Rs. 79.01 crore on the basis of the material on record.

Investigations under the PMLA showed that the money made from illegal activities was cleaned and made to look legitimate through three private companies - M/s Mahamaya Estates Pvt. Ltd, M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd, and M/s Murari Commodities Pvt. Ltd - which were found to have no real offices. The investigation found that Rs 147,499,091 in unexplained cash was added to the accounts of the family members and the companies and that this money was moved around using fake shareholders, shell companies in Kolkata, and circular bank transfers before being used to buy hotel properties and flats in Mumbai. The people listed as shareholders of the three companies were mostly individuals without their own income, including fake or name-lending shareholders, who couldn't explain where their money came from and didn't have enough income to match the amount of shares they owned.

Notably, Prasanta Kumar Dutta superannuated as DIG in 2019. In the financial year 2022-23, after he retired and the earlier FIR/ECIR were already recorded, he transferred 370,000 shares of M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd from the fake name-lending shareholders directly into his own name, making him the largest shareholder with over half of the total shares. It is to be noted that M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. is the company that is the beneficial owner of three of the four hotels.

The following properties have been provisionally attached in the order: Hotel Bhargav, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati; Bhargav Inn, G.S. Road, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati; Hotel Bhargav, Ishan Arcade, Lokhra Chariali, Guwahati; Hotel Bhargav Grand, Betkuchi, Guwahati; and two residential flats at Samartha Deep, Andheri (West), Mumbai.

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