ED files chargesheet against Iqbal Mirchi, 15 others in PMLA case

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a 12,000-page chargesheet in a money laundering case against Dawood Ibrahim's aide Iqbal Mirchi. The agency named 16 accused including Iqbal Mirchi, his wife Hazrat Memon, sons Asif Memon and Junaid Memon.

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ED files chargesheet against Iqbal Mirchi, 15 others in PMLA case
The Enforcement Directorate is probing a case of money laundering related to Dawood Ibrahim's close aide, Iqbal Mirchi. (Image for representation: ANI)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday submitted chargesheet against underworld gangster, drug trafficker and Dawood Ibrahim's close aide, Iqbal Mirchi, in a case of money laundering through sale of properties.

At present, the investigative agency provisionally attached two flats belonging to Iqbal Mirchi's wife Hazrat and their sons Asif and Junaid.

The 12,000-page chargesheet names 16 accused including Iqbal Mirchi, wife Hazrat Memon, sons Asif Memon and Junaid Memon.

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The others are Haroon Yusuf, Humayun Merchant, Rinku Deshpande, Ranjeet Singh Bindra, Jayant Soni, Dheeraj Wadhawan, Sunny Bhatija and Purushottam Budhrani.

Some entities which appeared on the ED chargesheet included Joy Home Creations, Sunblink Real Estate, RKW Realty and Sir Mohammad Yusuf trust.

The case initially came to light with the sale of three properties in Mumbai which belonged to Iqbal Mirchi.

The three prime properties -- Raba Mansion, Miriam Lodge and Sea View -- were located in Worli and were sold for around Rs 225 crore.

According to the agency, the properties were bought by Iqbal Mirchi in 1986 but as various cases were lodged against him, Mirchi was forced to flee the country.

The properties were purchased in the name of Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust which later transferred the complete ownership to Mirchi and his family in 1993. This was done by the chairman of the trust, Haroon Yusuf.

Haroon Yusuf had misled a Mumbai court in 2005 by saying that the properties belonged to the trust when they actually were attached under Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA). Eventually, the property attachment was removed and the order to confiscate the properties was quashed.

This consequently helped Iqbal Mirchi to sell off the property. Mirchi and Humayun Merchant started looking for a buyer. Merchant then roped in a construction company -- Joy Home Creations - which belonged to Jayant Soni.

A meeting was held with Mirchi in London and a deal was struck.

Five tenancy rights on the property for fake tenants were transferred to Joy Home for an amount of Rs 11 crore, which had to be paid to Merchant, while Rs 4.25 crores were to be paid to the trust.

However, Joy Home paid only Rs 25 lakhs of the said amount and did not pay anything after that.

By 2007, when the property prices appreciated, Iqbal Mirchi threatened Jayant Soni to leave the property.

It also came to light that all the properties and fake tenants were created by Merchant who had forged letters of tenancy surrender.

One such tenancy was of State Transport Corporation, a government firm.

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In 2010, Bindra roped in Sunblink Real Estate for the sale of the three properties and had meetings with Iqbal Mirchi. They struck a deal at Rs 225 crore.

Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Limited then entered the project and it was decided that all tenancy rights will be surrendered in favour of Sunblink for an amount of Rs 225 crore.

The deal was to happen between the three major stakeholders -- Merchant representing Iqbal Mirchi, Yusuf Trust and Joy Home.

As per the deal, Joy Home, owned by Soni, would get Rs 50 crore for the tenancy rights he owned.

Yusuf Trust, which was headed Haroon Yusuf, was to receive Rs 4.25 crore and the remaining Rs 170.75 crore belonged to Merchant, who represented Mirchi.

This was done through various accounts opened in a Chennai bank with the help of the fourth accused, Rinku Deshpande, who had posed as a representative for the fake tenants. Deshpande had reportedly helped Bindra receive Rs 40 crore as commission.

Mirchi's sons Asif and Junaid and his wife Hazrat were summoned twice to join investigations but they responded through an email saying that Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) was not valid to residents living out of the country.

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The ED has also recovered a letter written by Sunblink to Merchant on November 21, 2010, mentioning that a payment of Rs 43 crore was remaining as on the date.

The investigation by the ED revealed that the payments to Merchant were not just made by cheques, but also through hawala in foreign currency via market operators. This was done with the help of Deshpande.

ED officials found that payment of Rs 127 crore was made to Merchant. Bank records accessed during the investigation showed a payment of only Rs 60 crore.

It was later found that there were several transactions amounting to 90 million Dirham were transferred through hawala to Mirchi family members.

Deshpande received around Rs 25 to 30 crore from Sunblink Real Estate, which was a front of former promoter of DHFL Dheeraj Wadhawan.

The ED has also found that the Sunblink was given a loan of Rs 2,186 crore on the said three properties from DHFL, allegedly diverted by Wadhawan. The agency said that this money was laundered into few other firms belonging or linked to Wadhawans.

A look out circular (LOC) has already been issued against the promoters and management of DHFL to prevent them from fleeing the country.

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The ED has identified around two dozen properties in the UK and a five-star hotel worth Rs 180 crore in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) belonging to Mirchi's family.

Sixteen properties in the UK were allegedly owned by Mirchi's wife Hazrat Memon through two companies, Country Properties Limited and Uscombe Limited.

Six more properties are in the name of four UK-based companies, while three are held by the UAE-based Mihaj Investments Corporation Limited which could face action as the agency could contact authorities for seizure and attachment of these properties.

Filmstar Shilpa Shetty's husband Raj Kundra was also questioned in connection with a prime plot close to airport sold to RKW Realty during the investigation in this case.