ED Raids Earth Group: Seize Cash, Jewellery Worth Rs 13.8 Crore

The ED, on Friday, carried out raids at premises linked to M/s Earth Infrastructures Ltd. (EIL) and its group entities. The searches were conducted at 10 locations in Delhi and Gurugram and covered the premises of promoters, directors, and associates of the Earth Group."During the search operations, the ED seized cash amounting to approximately Rs 6.3 crore, jewellery valued at around Rs 7.5 crore, besides silver bullion and luxury watches," the agency said on Saturday.The ED’s money laundering case stems from five criminal cases filed by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing against M/s Earth Infrastructures Limited, its directors, and related entities. These cases were registered under sections related to cheating, criminal breach of trust,

and criminal conspiracy.A separate probe was launched by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which filed a complaint under Section 447 ofthe Companies Act.

ED’s Money Laundering Findings Against Earth Infrastructure Limited and Related Entities

The promoters launched multiple real estate projects under the "Earth" brand across Delhi-NCR, Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, and Lucknow. The projects were given fancy names: Earth Towne, Earth Sapphire Court, Earth Copia, Earth Techone, Earth Iconic, Earth Titanium, Earth Elacasa, Earth Gracia, and Earth Skygate."Investigation further revealed that the accused entities collected approximately Rs 2,024.45 crore from more than 19,425 homebuyers and investors by promising timely delivery of residential and commercial units along with assured returns. However, despite collecting huge advances from buyers, projects were either not completed or possession was not handed over to investors," the ED said."The main accused are Avdesh Kumar Goel, Rajnish Mittal, Atul Gupta, and Vikas Gupta," the ED added.The ED probe revealed that funds collected from homebuyers were diverted to other entities for:• Acquisition of land parcels in Gurugram, Delhi, and Rajasthan in the names of group companies and family members;• Routing funds through shell/group entities;• Personal land deals;• Advances to unrelated entities;• Salaries to family members without active business roles;• Dissipation of proceeds through the sale of properties acquired from diverted funds."Investigation has also revealed diversion of proceeds of crime through group entities such as Lavender Infratech Pvt Ltd, Dhurav Real Estate Developers Pvt Ltd, Murlidhar Infracon Pvt Ltd, Banke Bihari Farming Pvt Ltd, Julian Infracon Pvt Ltd, and others for the acquisition and dissipation of immovable properties," the probe agency claimed.