The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable and immovable assets worth ₹3.92 crore belonging to Pravat Ranjan Biswal, former Biju Janata Dal MLA of Cuttack and Media Guru Consultants Private Ltd under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with a Ponzi scheme case.
The attached assets include a bank balance of ₹25 lakh at the SBI Cuttack Branch belonging to Mr. Biswal and one immovable property belonging to Media Guru Consultants Private Limited in Noida, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
The investigation was initiated under PMLA, 2002 based on the FIR and chargesheet filed by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Crime Branch, Odisha Police and FIR, chargesheet filed by CBI, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Seashore Group of Companies which were involved in the process of money laundering.
“These companies generated proceeds of crime and diverted the said tainted money into acquiring different movable and immovable properties. They fraudulently and dishonestly collected a huge amount from the general public out of which ₹25 lakh was diverted to the ex-MLA and his family members and ₹4 crore was diverted to Media Guru Consultants Private Ltd to set up a news and current affairs TV channel named STV Samachar,” said ED in a statement.
This directorate had earlier attached properties worth ₹258 crore by issuing four provisional attachment orders, which were duly confirmed by the adjudicating authority…
