ED attaches properties worth Rs 24.94 cr in Ludhiana bank fraud case

New Delhi, June 28 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Wednesday that it has attached properties worth Rs 24.94 crore belonging to Pure Milk Products Private Limited, a Ludhiana-based company, and its directors, Charanjit Singh Bajaj and Gurdeep Kaur, in connection with a bank fraud case.The attachedproperties include land, buildings, plant, and machinery of Pure Milk Products Private Limited in Alamgir village on Malerkotla Road in Ludhiana, as well as various immovablepropertiesin the names of Bajaj and Kaur.

TheEDinitiated a PMLA investigation based on an FIR registered by the CBI in 2019, following a complaint filed by the StateBank of India against Pure Milk Products and its directors for forgery, cheating, and other offences, as well as misappropriation of a loan amount totaling Rs 60.74 crore.

A chargesheet was also filed by the CBI before the special CBI court in Mohali.

"Investigation conducted by theED revealed that Pure Milk Products fraudulently availed loans from the StateBankof India by forging books of accounts and diverting the loan amount through various modus operandi, such as making payments to non-existing/paper firms/companies, purchasing immovableproperties in the names of the directors of Pure Milk Products, transferring the amount to its sister concerns, and appropriating amounts towards the interest payable and repayment of car loans," said an ED official.