Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

In a major setback to the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty‘s husband Raj Kundra, Enforcement Directorate has summoned the businessman under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case.

The investigative agency has summoned Raj Kundra in a money laundering case against late gangster Iqbal Mirchi. Raj Kundra has been asked to appear before the investigating officer on November 4.

It has been alleged that the ED has found a connection with the real estate firm RKW Developers Private Limited and Essential Hospitality Limited where actress Shilpa Shetty is one of the directors. According to the confirmed reports, RKW Developers Private Limited had invested Rs. 44.11 crore in Essential Hospitality and offered an interest-free loan of Rs. 31.54 crore. Over Rs. 30.45 crore of loan was granted to Essential Hospitality between April 2017-March 2018 while Rs. 117.17 crore was given between April 2016-March 2017.

ED is probing the dealings of Raj Kundra with Ranjeet Bindra and a firm titled Bastian Hospitality in the case. It has been alleged that he has some sort of connection with some business dealings between the two.

The director of RKW Developers Private Limited is Ranjeet Bindra has already been arrested by the ED. Ranjeet Bindra is said to be working in close coordination with Iqbal Mirchi’s associate Humayun Merchant. Raj Kundra’s company Bastian Hospitality Private Limited had Ranjeet Bindra as the director.

Iqbal Mirchi (died in 2013) was said to be the right-hand man of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim in drug trafficking and extortion crimes. Anyone related to him has been under the radar of probe ion connection to the money laundering case for alleged illegal dealings in the purchase and sale of costly real estate assets in Mumbai.

The PMLA case is based on numerous FIRs filed by Mumbai Police. However, the businessman Raj Kundra had denied any kind of wrongdoing in the case.

 

By Saurabh Parmar

Digital Journalist (Specializing in Indian affairs & Contemporary Political development)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *