It was revealed during search that around 32 acres (out of total 43 acres) of Berhampur land were fraudulently sold in December 2025 based on a revoked Board Resolution in favour of a Sahara Employee and in violation of the guidelines of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, March 3, 2026: Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Kolkata Zonal Office has conducted search operations on 26.02.2026 at multiple premises located at Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), Ballari (Karnataka), Bhubaneswar and Berhampur (Odisha), linked to the sale of a land parcel of Sahara Prime City Limited at Berhampur, Odisha, as per a press release issued by the ED today.
The searches were carried out under Section 17(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with an ongoing investigation in the case of Humara India & Ors. Statements of various persons were recorded under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
It was revealed during search that around 32 acres (out of total 43 acres) of Berhampur land were fraudulently sold in December 2025 based on a revoked Board Resolution in favour of a Sahara Employee and in violation of the guidelines of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The sale was found to have been carried out on the directions of Senior management of Sahara Group. Discrepancies have been noticed between the declared sale consideration and the estimated market value. Digital evidences such as WhatsApp communications, contact and call records were recovered and seized. Also, financial records and books of accounts of the concerned entities, as well as other incriminating documents were seized for detailed examination.
Earlier, ED initiated investigation based on FIRs registered under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC, 1860 against M/s Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (HICCSL) and others by Police in several states. Over 500 FIRs have been registered against various Sahara Group entities, with more than 300 involving scheduled offences under the PMLA, alleging large-scale cheating of depositors through forced redeposits and denial of maturity payments.
ED investigation revealed that Sahara Group was operating a Ponzi scheme. The funds collected were managed in an unregulated manner without depositor oversight, maturity proceeds were not repaid instead reinvested and books were manipulated to camouflage such non-repayments. Various intra group transactions reflects that huge liabilities were shifted from one concern to another without any commercial wisdom. Finally huge liabilities are being reflected in 4 cooperative societies. Despite financial incapacity, the group continued to collect fresh deposits. Due to continuous non-repayment of matured amounts of depositors, the outstanding liability, which is having large interest component, has escalated disproportionately as compared to the principal sum originally collected from the depositors over the years.
Also, it is revealed that substantial deposits were siphoned away to create benami assets, extending loans and misused for personal use, thereby depriving depositors of their legitimate dues.
In this case, five Provisional Attachment Orders have been issued attaching multiple land parcels of Sahara Group including Benami lands and assets of other individuals. Further, 3 individuals have been arrested in the case and the arrested persons Anil Vailaparampil Abraham and O P Srivastav are continuing to remain in judicial custody. One Prosecution Complaint and Supplementary Prosecution Complaint have been filed earlier. Further investigation is under progress
