Representative photo NEW DELHI: In a first, Enforcement Directorate went after a group of land grabbers in Chennai that had encroached upon a plot worth Rs 13 crore in Saidapet area, and restituted it to its owner, a significant development in the face of several such cases of usurpation taking several decades to be disposed of and many remaining unresolved. These land grabbers had sold the encroached property to a third party by forging documents and fraudulently claiming ownership. Though an FIR was registered in the case by the Chennai Police in 2009, not much progress was made.
Subsequently, in 2017, ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attached the property, traced the money trail to establish proceeds of crime, filed a chargesheet, and with court permission, restituted the land to its owner. “The current value of the property stands at Rs 12.7 crore and its restitution to the rightful claimant and victim marks a significant step in ED’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the proceeds of crime are returned to those affected,” the agency said on Monday.
ED is investigating a number of land grab cases in different parts of the country and is in the process of restoring them to their rightful owners. The restitution of assets and money to individual victims of scams started with the disbursement of nearly Rs 12 crore of attached fixed deposits (FDs) of the Rose Valley group of companies in Kolkata to around 22 lakh small depositors, wh.
