Delhi court denies bail to former Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra's wife Preeti Chandra

New Delhi [India], November 7 : The Patiala House Court of Delhi on Monday dismissed the bail petition of former Unitech promoter Sanjay Chandra's wife Preeti Chandra in a money laundering case.
In the case the ED arrested founder of Unitech Group Ramesh Chandra, Preeti Chandra (Sanjay Chandra's wife) and Rajesh Malik of Carnousite Group last year.
According to the ED, Unitech Ltd., where the accused Ramesh Chandra is the Chairman, the co-accused Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra are the Directors, collected funds from home buyers, for housing projects.
As per the ED, this amount runs into several thousands of crores. However, this amount was not used for the purpose for which it was collected. The accused persons diverted this amount into several other accounts. In this manner the home buyers were cheated and the accused were involving in money laundering.
According to the ED, accused Preeti Chandra received proceeds of crime Rs. 107.40 Crores in her company Prakausli Investments Pvt Ltd. She did not disclose the ultimate usage of the said proceeds of crime.
Additional Sessions Judge Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Rajinder Singh while dismissing the bail plea noted that there are allegations against the accused about receiving unaccounted money in the accounts of Prakausli. The amount of transactions between different entities in the present case are voluminous and complex. It is not desirable to discuss in detail the said transactions at the stage of consideration on bail.
During further interrogation of the applicant/ accused while she is in judicial custody, information was found about three more flats in Dubai. The same have been attached, noted the court.
The entire transactions involve large number of home buyers (about 1,000 families). In view of the enormity of the transactions and the seriousness of the allegations, this court does not find any ground for grant of bail to the applicant / accused Preeti Chandra. Accordingly, the present bail application of the applicant/ accused Preeti Chandra is dismissed, court ordered.
Advocates Vijay Aggarwal and Adit Pujari appeared for Preeti Chandra while Advocates Naveen Kumar Matta and Arun Khatri represented the Enforcement Directorate in the matter.
The predecessor ASJ Dharmender Rana earlier took cognizance on chargesheet and stated, "Considering the material available on record, I take cognizance for the commission of offence punishable u/s 3/ 4 of PMLA."
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 18.14 crore belonging to two benami entities of erstwhile Unitech Group promoters Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra.
The attached properties include one multiplex in Gurugram, six commercial properties in Gurugram and Lucknow and 24 bank accounts and Fixed Deposit Receipt, the agency said.
"These assets are in the name of Enova Facility Management Services Pvt Ltd and FNM property Services Pvt Ltd which are benami entities of Chandras," the ED said.
The ED initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of various FIRs filed by homebuyers against Unitech Group and its promoters by Delhi Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
"Total Proceeds of Crime detected by the ED, in this case, are Rs 7,638.43 crore," ED had said.
The investigation by the ED revealed that these two benami entities were managed by Chandras through their close confidants and the assets attached were acquired and created from the proceeds of crime diverted from Unitech Group.