We are victim of extortion racket, have provided required data to ED: Indiabulls on raids

Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBFH) on Monday issued a statement on the recent raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Indiabulls Finance Centre in Mumbai and said that they are a "victim of an extortion racket" and have provided the required data to the agency.

In a statement to stock exchanges, Indiabulls Housing Finance has said that ED has sought some information regarding certain clients and the matter originates from ECIR No. 07/HUI/2021 filed by ED on the basis of FIR lodged in village Wada, Palghar, Maharashtra in April 2021.

Indiabulls Housing Finance statement read: "The company and its officials have provided the data of clients to Enforcement Directorate. The ECIR registered by ED stems out of an FIR filed by one Ashutosh Kamble who is part of the long-running extortion and blackmail racket against the company."

"The FIR is a copy-and-paste of earlier several patently false, vexatious and malicious complaints that the blackmailers have been circulating for last three years, now a similar allegations petition under name of Abhay Yadav was dismissed by Supreme Court in 2019," it added.

Indiabulls further said that the company has not succumbed to the threats and extortion attempts of the blackmailers for the last three years and has chosen to take them on through appropriate legal proceedings. Members of the gang were arrested and have had their bail applications repeatedly rejected by courts, including high courts, noting their conduct as extortionists and blackmailers in the court orders.

"In the instant case, the complainant Ashutosh Kamble has falsified his residential address to claim favourable jurisdiction of Wada police station in Palghar, where the company has no office or business. He purchased 500 shares of the company just ten days prior to lodging the FIR, to create the subterfuge of being an aggrieved shareholder," said Indiabulls.

The statement further says that the company had immediately approached the High Court of Bombay seeking quashing of the false and malicious FIR filed against the company in village Palghar last year. The Division Bench of Bombay High Court on April 27, 2021, passed a detailed order staying all investigations in the matter.

Earlier on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at offices of Indiabulls Finance Centre in Delhi and Mumbai, official sources said.

Searches were conducted on the basis of an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED under the Palghar police regarding a first information report against Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBHL) for allegedly siphoning off funds and for accounting irregularities committed by the promoters and directors of the company during 2014-2020.

In April 2021, ED had registered a case against Indiabulls Housing Finance and its promoters. ED has registered cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) against Indiabulls Housing Finance, the company's promoter Sameer Gehlaut and some other related companies and individuals.

( With inputs from ANI )