Actor-businessman Sachiin Joshi arrested by ED after questioning in money laundering case

Actor and entrepreneur Sachiin Joshi was reportedly arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money-laundering case on Sunday. This was after he was questioned in the case against realty group Omkar Realtors and Developers. As per sources, his links with the accused are being investigated by the agency. 

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Sachiin Joshi arrested

As per PTI,  the arrest was conducted under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). As per sources, Joshi is likely to be produced before a Mumbai court on Monday, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to seek his remand for custodial interrogation.

The case refers to the alleged irregularities regarding the SRA (slum rehabilitation authority) scheme in the construction of a housing society in Mumbai.

Sachiin Joshi is a promoter of the JMJ business group, owned by his father Jagdish Joshi, known as gutkha baron. He has acted in movies like Jackpot, Veerappan and more. He is married to Urvashi Sharma, who has acted movies like Naqaab.  

The arrest came days after Chairman Kamal Kishore Gupta and MD Babulal Varma (managing director) of Omkar Realtors and Developers were arrested by the ED following raids against the company. Sources stated that the the two executives have been accused of 'diverting over Rs 400 crore loan from Yes Bank.

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The case was filed by the ED after studying an FIR filed by Aurangabad district police under sections of IPC involving cheating and criminal breach of trust, the agency stated earlier. 

Quoting the FIR, the ED had then stated, "Omkar Realtors and Developers Pvt Ltd and its directors bought a firm 'Surana Construction' which had SRA rights for re-development of Anand Nagar SRA Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai's Wadala area".

"However, Omkar and its promoters did not pay back the amount due to the seller and also mortgaged future FSI (floor space index) of the said SRA project and took huge amounts of loans," it added.

The ED also alleged that upon investigation it was found out that "loans to the tune of Rs 410 crore were diverted and not used for intended purposes".

"No work of SRA building was undertaken. The requisite rules and procedures under SRA were ignored by the accused and documents relating to names of slum dwellers were forged to claim more FSI for mortgaging the same with banks for taking the loans," the ED had alleged.

Omkar Realtors and Developers had then denied the allegations and stated that they were "emphatic that Omkar Group is not in violation of any lending norms and slum approvals".

(With inputs from PTI) 

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