New Delhi, Dec 22 – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it attached properties worth Rs 9.7 crore in connection with a case of embezzlement of funds of the Amritsar Improvement Trust.
The ED said that seized properties belong to Rupali Sharma, the wife of accused trust official Daman Bhalla, Satnam Singh, Kanwaljeet Kaur, Teena Vohra, Renu Vohra, and Surinder Kaur Arora in the form of land and buildings in Amritsar and various movable properties, including bank account balance and FDs.
It said that its probe revealed that Bhalla, Deputy Controller of Finance and Accounts of the Trust, along with other accused persons had opened six bogus bank accounts in the name of trust and had transferred around Rs 71.40 crore of its funds into those six bank accounts.
“Further, they had withdrawn or transferred Rs 27.12 crore from these six bogus accounts. These accounts were deliberately kept out of the cash books of the Amritsar Improvement Trust. The withdrawn or transferred amount was used for purchasing immovable properties in the name of Rupali Sharma and was kept or transferred in the saving bank account and fixed deposits in the name of Satnam Singh, Kanwaljeet Kaur, Teena Vohra, Renu Vohra and Surinder Kaur Arora,” the ED claimed.
The ED began a probe on the basis of FIR registered by Police Station Civil Lines, Amritsar in 2017 based on a complaint filed by Chief Vigilance Officer, Local Bodies, Punjab for forgery, cheating and other offences and embezzlements of funds of Amritsar Improvement Trust to the tune of Rs 27 crore.
aks/vd
