The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plush farmhouse office in South Delhi’s Rajokri, which served as the probe agency’s Gurugram zonal office for nearly three years, has been sealed. A hand-written notice at the gate informs visitors that the office has shifted to a new location near Sahara Mall on M G Road, Gurugram. The 2.5-acre property, worth over Rs 100 crore, was confiscated by the ED as part of a money laundering investigation against Wisdom Realtors.
The farmhouse, originally owned by Atul Bansal, a realtor who has since passed away, was mortgaged with a consortium of banks, including the Union Bank of India, for Rs 111 crore in 2012. However, the bank took possession of the property in 2017 after Wisdom Realtors defaulted on the loan. The ED, which had attached the property, later obtained a confiscation order, stating that the property was proceeds of crime.
For around three years, the ED used the spacious bedrooms as office spaces for its senior officers, set up a training unit in the living room, and constructed makeshift lock-ups. The indoor swimming pool was repurposed as a godown for discarded furniture, and up to 100 staff members worked from the premises. ED officers had initially claimed that their training centre would remain at the Rajokri farmhouse, but it appears that plan has been scrapped.
The ED’s decision to vacate the property comes as the Union Bank of India continues to challenge the confiscation and attachment of the property in court. The bank’s lawyer, Alok Kumar, stated that their claim for the mortgaged farmhouse has already been filed in courts and that they will wait for the judgment from the PMLA court in Panchkula. ED officers, on the other hand, cited Section 9 of the PMLA to justify their use of the property, stating that such confiscated properties remain “vested with the central government” and that a Gazette notification gave powers to ED officers to act as “Administers” and “receive, manage and dispose off the property confiscated”.
The ED has not surrendered the property yet and plans to auction it once the legal proceedings are complete. Meanwhile, the agency has been using two other confiscated properties as office space, one in Ranchi and another in Mumbai’s Worli area. Despite the shift, ED officers insisted that they will not vacate these properties in the near future.
As the ED continues to navigate this complex legal situation, the fate of the Rajokri farmhouse remains unclear. What is certain, however, is that the agency’s use of the property for nearly three years has raised eyebrows, and the eventual sale of the property will be closely watched by financial experts and watchdogs.
Original Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ed-office-moves-out-of-farmhouse-bank-awaits-court-order-9944489/
Category : India
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Publish Date: 2025-04-15 04:30:00
