The ED has provisionally attached immovable properties valued at Rs 26.30 crore, which were found to be acquired from proceeds of crime by former employees of HUF India Pvt Ltd.
HUF India Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of the German-based company HUF Halswerk and Furst GMBH and Co. KG, which is engaged in the production of electronic remote-control systems for four-wheeled vehicles.
The attached properties comprised of 24 immovable properties which were in the name of two former employees – Sunil Kumar Garg (former Managing Director), Nikhil Agarwal (former Finance Head), their family members and firms.
The properties were attached under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The ED initiated investigations on the basis of an FIR based on a complaint filed by Sandeep Jagdish Choudhary, Managing Director of HUF India Pvt Ltd, against its former employees for allegedly cheating and defrauding the company to the tune of Rs 139 crore.
Following the completion of the investigation, police had filed a chargesheet under Sections 420, 406, 409, 467, 468, 471 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
Between 2010 and 2020, the accused, in connivance with each other, had duped HUF India Pvt Ltd by manipulating and misusing purchase orders, creating false invoices, using the company’s fake stamp to generate goods receipts notes, and released the funds to vendors without receiving any goods/services, ED said.
Vendors had transferred the funds back to the bank accounts of Garg, Agarwal and their family members and firms in the guise of consultancy services even though no such services were provided, the probe agency said.
Furthermore, Garg and Agarwal had received commission amounts from various vendors of HUF India Pvt Ltd, by threatening them that their services would be discontinued if the commission amounts were not paid, it added.
The accused siphoned off the funds into their bank accounts, accounts of their family members as well as accounts of the dummy firms created by them and used the siphoned money to acquire movable and immovable properties in the name of Garg and Agarwal.
Earlier, the ED conducted searches on September 4, 2024, at the premises of the accused people and vendors, during which bank accounts, FDs, shares and investment in mutual funds to the tune of Rs 10.15 crore were frozen.