ED’s Gurgaon office runs from a farmhouse in Delhi!
#News Bureau October 6,2024
For the past two years, Farm No. 22 at Greens, Rajokri in South Delhi has been serving as the ED’s Gurgaon zonal office. The ED had seized this farmhouse during the investigation. Its seizure has been challenged by the bank with which the property was mortgaged. Spread over two and a half acres of land, this farmhouse has all the amenities.
The Indian Express reporter went inside the farmhouse and investigated. Including casual workers, a staff of about 100 is working inside. The farmhouse’s huge central lawn, whose market rate is estimated by local property dealers to be Rs 120 crore, is surrounded by pine trees and palm trees. But this lawn has been kept by the ED as a parking space for the seized cars. On Thursday, October 3, there were about 40 cars here, some of which were worth more than Rs 1 crore.
According to the Indian Express, officials said that when the ED headquarters in New Delhi runs out of space to park the expensive cars seized, they park them in this huge ED “daftar” in Rajokri. Apart from a yard for seized cars, a large living room also serves as the agency’s training centre by the ED.
The farmhouse has been embroiled in litigation, first in the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and the Delhi High Court, and now in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Panchkula, where Union Bank of India has challenged the ED’s attachment and seizure of the property as “proceeds of crime”, i.e., the ED is using it after seizing it in the alleged crime. This has been challenged.
The farmhouse actually belonged to a property dealer Atul Bansal, who was allegedly the prime accused in the property and money laundering case. He has passed away. He bought the property in 2004 and in 2012 he mortgaged it along with other properties to the bank for Rs 111 crore.
The Rajokri farmhouse was mortgaged by Atul Bansal’s company Wisdom Realtors to Union Bank of India and after failing to repay the loan, the bank took possession of the property in 2017. Wisdom Realtors challenged the possession in the DRT and obtained a stay order, against which the bank again appealed to the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT).
A reading of the 2019 order of the DRAT reveals that at that stage, Wisdom Realtors had made a settlement offer of Rs 96 crore to the bank “for which amount a buyer was willing to purchase the property” but the sale ultimately did not happen. Lawyers appearing for Union Bank in Panchkula said that in 2019, they again came to know that it was the ED which had first attached and later seized the property mortgaged with them.
A reading of the 2019 order of the DRAT reveals that at that stage, Wisdom Realtors had made a settlement offer of Rs 96 crore to the bank “for which amount a buyer was willing to purchase the property” but the sale ultimately did not happen. Lawyers appearing for Union Bank in Panchkula said that in 2019, they again came to know that it was the ED which had first attached and later seized the property mortgaged with them.
In fact, the ED’s Gurgaon zonal office should be in Gurgaon. But where will you find a building with such luxury? Inside the Rajokri farmhouse, officials and staff have occupied private bedrooms, living rooms and walk-ins. “Maintaining” every space is a tough job, he said. A senior official working at the farmhouse said: “By law, the ED’s Gurgaon zonal office should be in Gurgaon and if we get an alternate location, perhaps in the future this farmhouse will continue to be used as the ED’s training centre. By using this property, at least we are not letting it fall into disrepair.