Gurugram, July 19 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has 'provisionally attached' immovable properties totaling 88.29 acres, valued at Rs 300.11 crore, belonging to M/s M3M India Infrastructures Private Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

These properties, consisting of land parcels, are situated at Basharia village under Harsaru Tehsil in Haryana's Gurugram district.

According to a press release issued by the ED on Friday, the probe agency launched the investigation following an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Trilok Chand Gupta, then Director of DTCP, M/s R. S. Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., and 14 other real estate companies.

'The case involves cheating various landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana/HUDA, by getting issued notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and subsequently under Section 6 of the Act for the acquisition of lands of respective landowners which compelled the latter to sell their land to the said coloniser companies at a lower price than the prevailing rate before the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act,' read the ED release.

It added that 'they fraudulently and dishonestly obtained Letter of Intents (LoIs)/licences on the notified land, causing loss to the respective landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana/HUDA, while wrongfully gaining for themselves.

The ED release claimed the investigation has revealed that 'M/s R.S. Infrastructure Private Limited (RSIPL), a company beneficially owned by Basant Bansal and Roop Bansal, promoters of M3M group, colluded with the persons mentioned in the FIR and unlawfully got approved licences for land measuring 10.35 acres for establishing a commercial colony, by classifying their case as one of extreme hardship without legal basis".

'Upon securing licences to establish a commercial colony, the promoters of M/s RSIPL did not develop the same, which was a precondition for obtaining the licences. Later, they sold the company's shares and assets, including the said licensed land for a staggering sum of Rs 726 crore to M/s Lowe Realty Private Limited, an associated entity of M/s Religare Group,' said the ED.

'This fraudulent activity of obtaining the said licences illegally has resulted in the generation of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 300.15 crore, which were subsequently diverted from RSIPL to the promoters of M/s RSIPL into their bank accounts and to the bank accounts of their family members and subsequently utilised for operational and business expenses of M/s M3M group companies,' it added.

/IANS