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Loan Fraud: ED Attaches Rs 1,000 Crore Worth Of Land In U.S. In Rs 2,200 Crore Bank Fraud Case

India Has Attached Land In California Owned By A Man Who Ran Away With Rs 2,200 Crore
Policemen carry a trunk box containing legal documents relating to the Satyam Computer Services Ltd. fraud case, in Hyderabad, India, Tuesday, April 7, 2009. The Central Bureau of Investigation Tuesday submitted original documents of bank transactions and other documents while filing a charge in the Satyam fraud case against the company's founder B Ramalinga Raju and eight others, according to a news agency. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
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Policemen carry a trunk box containing legal documents relating to the Satyam Computer Services Ltd. fraud case, in Hyderabad, India, Tuesday, April 7, 2009. The Central Bureau of Investigation Tuesday submitted original documents of bank transactions and other documents while filing a charge in the Satyam fraud case against the company's founder B Ramalinga Raju and eight others, according to a news agency. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

The Enforcement Directorate has attached 1,280 acres of land in the United States in connection with one of the biggest bank loan frauds in this country.

The unprecedented action pertains to land in California worth Rs 1,000 crore, owned by Zoom Developers. The company is owned by Vijay Chaudhary, who is absconding after taking loans worth Rs 2,200 crore from Indian banks ostensibly for realty projects in Europe which never materialised. Zoom had offices in Indore and Mumbai.

The ED alleges that Chaudhary siphoned off the entire loan amount. Last month, one of the directors of the company, Sharad Kabra, was arrested by the Indore ED. An arrest warrant has also been issued against Chaudhary.

The central agency tweeted the action taken.

ED Indore attaches under PMLA 1280 Acres of Land in California, USA of Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd and Vijay Choudhary in bank fraud case.

— ED (@dir_ed) July 2, 2015

ED officials said that it is for the first time that the agency had taken such an action in the US. Indore falls under the jurisdiction of ED, Ahmedabad. Officials said this was one of the biggest bank loan frauds in the country.

After suspecting the role played by some of the banks in granting loans, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also initiated a separate probe.

(With agency inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.