Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided residences and offices of promoters of media company Deccan Chronicle Holding Private Ltd, T Venkatram Reddy and T Vinayakravi Reddy, to gather evidence of possible money laundering, in case of a bank fraud which runs over ₹ 1000 crore.

The total outstanding amount due to all the banks put together is now pegged at more than ₹8,000 crore. The searches in Hyderabad and New Delhi were conducted under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 on Friday, an ED press statement stated.

“The search resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents relating to immovable properties and digital evidences, two luxury cars and demonetized currency to the extent of five lakh rupees. The digital evidence is being analyzed further to trace the diversion of loan funds,” the statement further said.

The total bank fraud which was chargesheeted by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which led to ED action includes ₹357.77 crore of Canara Bank, ₹225.77 crore of Andhra Bank, ₹72.61 crore of Indian Overseas Bank, ₹72.03 crore of Central Bank of India, ₹116.35 crore of Corporation Bank and ₹317.4 crore of IDBI Bank totalling to ₹1161.93 Crore.

ED had already attached 19 immovable and movable assets worth ₹263 crore in 2017.

ED probe further revealed: “There are allegations that the accused individuals and others defrauded the banks by availing loans by projecting a false rosy financial picture and fabricated advertising revenues and then subsequently diverted the funds from the stated business purposes for their personal enrichment and also fraudulently invested in other concerns like Odyssey India Limited, Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures Limited, an IPL Team which was suspended for match fixing, Flyington Freighters Ltd which was used to divert ₹227.85 crore to purchase 12 cargo planes from Airbus SAS France and Sieger Solutions Limited causing massive losses and subsequent non-performing assets to banks.”

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