New Delhi, March 7 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested WTC Group promoter Ashish Bhalla under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The arrest came days after multiple raids on the real estate group across the country, in connection with an alleged real estate fraud. Bhalla is accused of cheating and duping thousands of investors and companies.

The ED conducted search operations under Section 17 of PMLA on the Group on February 27, at 12 locations in Delhi, Faridabad, and the NCR region.

Bhalla had been on the run since then in an attempt to evade legal proceedings.

With the ED raiding the WTC Group along with the Bhutani Group, large-scale financial irregularities have been found which indicates a clear breach of trust and fraud against hundreds of homebuyers by the accused companies and people associated with these firms.

During search operations, documents related to funds collection of more than Rs 3,500 crore from various investors were found against 15 projects in the Delhi/NCR region.

Additionally, incriminating documents related to the WTC Group and the Bhutani Group were found and seized wherein assets worth thousands of crores of market value had been transferred to the Bhutani Group at nominal value, thus transferring the Proceeds of Crime (POC) at nominal price. Documents related to cash transactions of the Group were also found.

The scam has left over 20,000 buyers stranded with incomplete development and financial losses amounting to thousands of crores.

The regulator initiated the investigation on the basis of dozens of FIRs registered by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), PS BPTP Faridabad, and PS Faridabad Central on the basis of complaints from hundreds of homebuyers and investors against the WTC Group and its promoters and others for cheating, criminal breach of trust and fraud against hundreds of homebuyers by the accused companies/persons.

The FIRs alleged that the WTC Faridabad Infrastructure Private Limited and promoters had lured the general public and plot buyers to invest in their project at Sector 111-114, Faridabad for allotment of residential plots to buyers.

Bhutani Group had signed an agreement in July 2024 to buy a majority stake in WTC Group.

Bhutani Infra has categorically denied any involvement in land or fund transfers from the controversial real estate group, adding that it has severed all ties with the WTC Group.

/IANS