New Delhi:The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday filed a chargesheet against real estate firm Raheja Developers, its main promoter Navin Raheja and his family members on money laundering charges linked to an alleged multi-crore fraud involving homebuyers.
In a statement, the agency said the prosecution complaint was filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Saket, Delhi. It has also sought confiscation of assets with a current market value of ₹2,399.65 crore, against a book value of ₹810 crore.
Those named in the chargesheet include Raheja Developers Ltd (RDL), its managing director Navin Raheja, his son Nayan Raheja, daughter Nayana Singhania, wife Nirmal Raheja, and 16 other persons and entities.
According to the ED, the money laundering case stems from FIRs registered by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police and Gurugram Police following complaints from homebuyers.
The complainants alleged that they had paid for flats and commercial units in projects such as Raheja Revanta, Atlantis, Navin Minar and The Delhi Mall but received neither possession nor refunds.
The agency alleged that RDL collected ₹2,699 crore from around 4,600 homebuyers and investors in its residential and commercial projects in Delhi and Gurugram, promising timely delivery.
“Instead of being used for construction, Rs 1,353.26 crore has so far been identified as proceeds of crime – Rs. 1,175.86 crore taken out of the project, escrow, and RERA accounts for purposes other than construction, and Rs 177.40 crore collected from homebuyers in cash outside the registered agreements,” the ED said.
The agency claimed that most of the group’s projects remained incomplete.
Raheja Developers had earlier attributed delays in its Gurugram project, Raheja Revanta, primarily to the lack of essential government infrastructure despite having paid the required charges.
The company had maintained that possession of the 61-storey structure could not be safely handed over without essential services such as water, electricity, sewerage and firefighting systems.
According to the ED, homebuyers’ money was diverted to group companies and entities operated through employees and their relatives acting as nominee directors.
The funds were allegedly used to purchase land in the names of these companies and transferred through RERA accounts from one project to another.
The agency said all four members of the Raheja family “deliberately did not join” searches conducted in June and failed to appear for questioning despite summons.
It added that Nayan Raheja’s anticipatory bail application was rejected by a special PMLA court in Saket in September, while the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea in October.
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