Supertech, its promoter diverted ₹638crore: ED

At least ₹638 crore collected from homebuyers and borrowed from the banks were diverted by Supertech Group and its chairman Ram Kishor Arora to buy properties in Gurugram at inflated prices instead of completing existing projects in Noida, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said while producing Arora before a Delhi court on Wednesday, where it sought his 14 days custody.

- Neeraj Chauhan and Vinod Rajput

Arora was arrested by ED in a money laundering case on Tuesday. The court sent Arora to ED custody till July 10.

“The total proceeds of crime estimated in the case, so far, comes to around ₹638.93 crore which was diverted by Supertech Group and its promoters/directors to their group companies for purchase of properties and the company with land having much lesser value. The funds diverted by the group had been collected from homebuyers and banks or financial institutions for use in specific projects. The diversion of funds by the accused companies and individuals led to default on part of the accused companies from banks or financial institutions,” ED said in its remand note, reviewed by HT.

ED has alleged that Arora was also the “deciding authority” in diverting the funds to these companies. When asked about the siphoning off of funds during questioning, Arora gave “evasive replies” to the ED officers, they said. “However, upon confronting him with the bank account statements of the companies and other accounts of Supertech Group, Arora admitted that the money is effectively homebuyer’s installments,” ED added.