As per the Police FIR, during his service period from 1992 to 2019, Prasanta Kumar Dutta amassed assets grossly disproportionate to his known sources of income. As against the disclosed income of the officer and his wife of about Rs. 7.23 Crore
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, 28 June 2026: Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Guwahati Zonal Office, has issued a Provisional Attachment Order under the second proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), provisionally attaching immovable properties valued in the aggregate at Rs. 53.28 Crore ( approx.) in the case relating to Prasanta Kumar Dutta, a retired officer of the Indian Police Service (promoted from Assam Police Service) who superannuated from the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police, and his family members and group companies.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Vigilance & AntiCorruption Branch P.S., Assam Police, under Sections 13(1)(b) read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 which are offences scheduled under the PMLA. As per the Police FIR, during his service period from 1992 to 2019, Prasanta Kumar Dutta amassed assets grossly disproportionate to his known sources of income. As against the disclosed income of the officer and his wife of about Rs. 7.23 Crore and disclosed expenditure of about Rs. 9.04 Crore, undisclosed assets of about Rs. 77.21 Crore were found, the net disproportionate assets being reasonably ascertained at approximately Rs. 79.01 Crore on the basis of the material on record.
Investigations under the PMLA revealed that the Proceeds of Crime so generated were laundered and projected as untainted property through three closely-held companies - M/s Mahamaya Estates Pvt. Ltd., M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. and M/s Murari Commodities Pvt. Ltd. - whose registered offices were found to be non-existent. The investigation established the introduction of unexplained cash aggregating Rs. 14,74,99,091/- into the accounts of the family members and the companies, and the layering of funds through fictitious shareholders, Kolkata-based shell entities and circular bank transfers, before integration into the hotel properties and the Mumbai flats.
The persons appearing as shareholders of the three companies were found to be, in large part, persons of no independent means, including fictitious or name-lending shareholders, having no source of income commensurate with the share-capital attributed to them, and were unable to explain the source of the funds.
Notably, Prasanta Kumar Dutta superannuated as DIG in 2019. Then, during financial year 2022–23, after his superannuation, and also after the predicate FIR/ECIR were already on record, he caused 3,70,000 shares of M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. to be transferred from the dummy and fictitious name-lending shareholders directly into his own name, becoming the largest shareholder with more than half the shareholding. It is to be noted that M/s Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. is the company which is the beneficial owner of three of the four hotels. The following properties have been provisionally attached in the order - “Hotel Bhargav”, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati; “Bhargav Inn” G.S. Road, Paltan Bazar, Guwahati; “Hotel Bhargav”, Ishan Arcade, Lokhra Chariali, Guwahati; “Hotel Bhargav Grand”, Betkuchi, Guwahati and two residential flats at “Samartha Deep”, Andheri (West), Mumbai. Further investigation is under progress.
