The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 55.57 crore in connection with an alleged money laundering case involving Gurugram-based real estate company Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), formerly known as Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, and its associates.
The attachment has been carried out under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as the federal agency continues its investigation into what it describes as a complex financial fraud involving suspected fictitious export transactions and the alleged diversion of funds.
According to the ED, the attached assets comprise bank accounts, fixed deposits, parcels of land, commercial properties and residential apartments located across Ludhiana, Gurugram and Chandigarh. The properties are held in the names of HSRL, its former Chairman and Managing Director Sanjeev Arora, members of his family and several related entities that are under the scanner.
Investigators allege that although HSRL primarily operated as a real estate company, it reported exports of mobile phones worth nearly Rs 157 crore during the 2023-24 financial year. The exports were allegedly shown as having been made to two Dubai-based companies — Fortbell Telecom FZCO and Dragon Global FZCO.
The Enforcement Directorate claims that its investigation has revealed these export transactions to be fictitious. According to the agency, the alleged sham deals were used to create a misleading financial trail, raising suspicions that the transactions were designed to facilitate money laundering and conceal the movement of illicit funds.
Officials believe the alleged export activity was inconsistent with the company’s principal business profile, prompting investigators to examine whether the transactions were genuine commercial operations or merely paper entries intended to legitimise financial flows.
The provisional attachment is a preventive measure under the PMLA and is aimed at ensuring that the assets under investigation are not transferred, disposed of or otherwise alienated while the inquiry continues. The attachment does not amount to a determination of guilt, and the case will be subject to further adjudication under the legal framework governing money laundering investigations.
The ED is expected to continue examining the financial records, banking transactions and business dealings of the company and its associated entities to determine the origin, movement and ultimate use of the funds under investigation. Officials are also analysing the role of the overseas entities named in the alleged export transactions.
Neither Hampton Sky Realty Limited nor the individuals named by the Enforcement Directorate had publicly responded to the allegations at the time this report was prepared.
The case is the latest in a series of investigations by the Enforcement Directorate targeting alleged financial irregularities involving corporate entities, with authorities increasingly focusing on suspected misuse of cross-border trade transactions as a channel for laundering proceeds of crime.
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