GUWAHATI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has provisionally attached immovable properties worth about ₹53.28 crore in a money-laundering case involving retired IPS officer Prasanta Kumar Dutta, his family members and associated companies. The attached assets include four hotels in Guwahati and two residential flats in Mumbai. The action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
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The probe was launched on the basis of an FIR registered by the Assam Police Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Branch under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the ED, Dutta amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during his service from 1992 until his retirement as Deputy Inspector General of Police in 2019. The agency said the disclosed income of Dutta and his wife was about ₹7.23 crore against expenditure of about ₹9.04 crore, while undisclosed assets worth around ₹77.21 crore were detected. Based on the material collected, the ED estimated the net disproportionate assets at approximately ₹79.01 crore.
The ED alleged that the proceeds of crime were laundered through three closely held companies: M/s Mahamaya Estates Pvt. Ltd., M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Murari Commodities Pvt. Ltd. It said the registered offices of the companies were found to be non-existent. The agency further alleged that about ₹14,74,99,091/- in unexplained cash was introduced into the accounts of Dutta's family members and the companies before being layered through fictitious shareholders, Kolkata-based shell entities and circular bank transfers, and eventually integrated into hotel properties and residential flats.
The agency further alleged that many shareholders of the three companies were dummy or name-lending shareholders with no independent financial means and could not explain the source of the funds. It said that in the financial year 2022-23, after Dutta's retirement and after the registration of the predicate FIR and the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), 3,70,000 shares of M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. were transferred from the dummy shareholders to Dutta, making him the majority shareholder with more than 50 per cent stake. According to the ED, the company is the beneficial owner of three of the four hotels.
The attached properties include Hotel Bhargav at Paltan Bazar, Bhargav Inn on GS Road, Hotel Bhargav at Ishan Arcade in Lokhra Chariali, Hotel Bhargav Grand at Betkuchi, all in Guwahati, and two residential flats at Samartha Deep in Andheri (West), Mumbai.
Further investigation is underway.