ED upset as Punjab police stalls probe into deals linked to Rs 5,600 crore NSEL scam

The investigation of four Punjab businessmen involved in the infamous Rs 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam has been held up as the Punjab police is dragging its feet on a complaint lodged by the Enforcement Directorate in August 2020.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana dated July 8, 2020, sought action against the directors of Ludhiana-based M/s Genex Infratech Pvt Ltd for having sold off 19 case properties worth Rs 70 crore in 2020. These properties situated in Ludhiana were attached in a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case (ECIR 14/MZO/NSEL/2013) registered by ED’s Mumbai branch in 2013. These properties legally belong to the Government of India after the attachment.

The accused are facing trial in a court and have been released on conditional bail. The ED has assessed the total liability of M/s Genex Infrastructure in the NSEL scam at about Rs 700 crore.

Assistant Joint Director of ED Ram Kumar Dixit after investigations provided documentary evidence regarding the illegal sale of attached properties. He even sought action against revenue department officers of Punjab who connived with the accused to siphon government property while the matter was pending in the special PMLA court.

The ED complaint also mentioned that the money earned from the sale of these properties was sent abroad through hawala channels. The properties in question were purchased with the slush money earned from the operations of banned NSEL in which more than 13000 people had invested their money. NSEL dealt with online trading of various commodities as their business across the entire country.

On the basis of the ED complaint, the Ludhiana police after a lapse of 10 months finally registered FIR No. 93 on May 15, 2021. But until now have not arrested the main accused and his accomplices, for reasons best known to the officers concerned.

Yet another discrepancy was that though the ED complaint accused Rajni Aggarwal and Abhishek Kansal along with Kailash Aggarwal of the crime, the police somehow did not include the names of the other two in the FIR thereby helping them in the ensuing legal proceedings.

The Punjab and Haryana High court on December 7, 2021, rejected the anticipatory bail application of the accused and passed strict strictures against Kailash Aggarwal and his accomplices. The Supreme Court, too, upheld the high court order on February 7, 2022.

Interestingly, the then Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), Ludhiana,  Sachin Gupta in his wisdom did not agree with the documentary evidence and other facts provided by the ED. On March 7, 2022, he recommended the cancellation of the FIR. But the Commissioner of Police P Kaustab Sharma constituted an SIT on the same day under the chairmanship of Ravcharan Singh Brar, the new JCP (Rural) to look into the matter afresh.

Responding to the queries sent to him on WhatsApp, Kaustab Sharma did not divulge the findings in the SIT report but said, “the case was registered on the complaint submitted by ED. Their perspective would be taken before anything is decided. The case is under investigation.”

Sachin Gupta, now posted as SSP Muktsar Sahib did not respond to the question, on what grounds he recommended the cancellation of the FIR registered on the basis of documentary evidence provided by the ED.

JCP (Rural) Brar said, “the cancellation of the FIR was recommended by Sachin Gupta. I had only removed some weaknesses as earlier the informant Rohit Gupta was not associated with the inquiry. I called him and talked to him.” He did not elaborate on the matter further.

Sources revealed that Brar in general did not disagree with his predecessor and has upheld the recommendation for the cancellation of the ED’s FIR.

A senior ED officer who was handling the investigation till July, said that the case properties were sold by theaccused and his accomplices violating the trial court and high court orders. There was no ground available “on merits” to the Punjab police to cancel the FIR.

Assistant Joint Director ED, Mumbai Neeraj Kumar who is now the new investigating officer in the case refused to talk to this reporter regarding the steps being taken by him to get the bail of the accused cancelled.

The whistleblower and ED’s informant Rohit Gupta when contacted said that every effort was being made by the police officers concerned and the newly posted officers of the ED to help the accused putting the state at a loss of crores of rupees.

Efforts to contact accused Kailash Aggarwal failed as his phone remained switched off. He also did not respond to WhatsApp messages sent by India Narrative.