The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached movable and immovable properties of Mahesh Motewar, the chairman and managing director of the scam-hit Samruddha Jeevan Foods India Ltd.
The ED attached plots, apartments, three hotels (in Pune), commercial premises and one helicopter (at Santacruz Airport, Mumai) belonging to Mr. Motewar. The value of all is said to exceed ₹200 crore
In January 2016, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) too had carried out raids on properties owned by Mr. Motewar and 58 places linked to the Samruddha Jeevan group, including 40 in Pune, and offices in Nashik, Aurangabad, Solapur and Odisha.
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A high-profile businessman who frequently hobnobbed with local politicians, Mr. Motewar also owned a couple of vernacular TV channels.
Mr. Motewar is under arrest since last year, for his alleged role in the multi-crore ponzi scam. Mr. Motewar and his kin, including his wife, are accused of cheating thousands of small investors across Maharashtra. on promises of high returns through unauthorised cattle and goat farm schemes. In August last year, the Criminal Investigation Department arrested his wife, Leena.
In 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred the company, headquartered in Pune’s Shivajinagar area, and its directors from raising money from investors, mostly hailing from rural and semi-urban areas.
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The company, under various ponzi schemes, had offered to double the investors’ money in five-and-a-half years, while promising an amount equivalent to one-and-a-half times the contract value as ‘accidental death help.’
The SEBI finally cracked down on the group in November 2015. A case was filed at the Deccan Gymkhana Police Station in Pune under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) against the company and its four directors — Mahesh and Leena Motewar, Ghanshyam Patel and Rajendra Bhandare.