The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Kolkata, has provisionally attached land measuring approximately 707 acres in and around Aamby Valley City, Lonavala, with an estimated market value of Rs 1,460 crore. The attachment has been made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as part of an ongoing investigation against Sahara India and its group entities.
According to the ED, the land was purchased in benami names using funds diverted from Sahara group companies. The investigation was initiated based on three FIRs registered under sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, by police in Odisha, Bihar, and Rajasthan against M/s Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (HICCSL) and others. To date, more than 500 FIRs have been filed against various Sahara Group entities and associated individuals, with over 300 of them involving scheduled offences under the PMLA.
Allegations of a massive Ponzi scheme
The ED's probe revealed that Sahara Group was operating a large-scale Ponzi scheme through several cooperative societies and entities, including:
- Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (HICCSL)
- Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited (SCCSL)
- Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Cooperative Society (SUMCS)
- Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (SMCSL)
- Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd. (SICCL)
- Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. (SIRECL)
- Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. (SHICL)
The Sahara Group allegedly lured depositors with the promise of high returns and attracted agents with hefty commissions. However, the collected funds were used in an unregulated manner, and depositors were neither informed about their investments nor given control over their funds. When maturity payments became due, Sahara entities reportedly either avoided repayments or forced investors to redeposit their funds by transferring them into other schemes.
To cover up the non-repayment, Sahara is alleged to have manipulated its financial records — treating reinvestments as fresh deposits in different schemes and creating a false appearance of repayments. The group allegedly continued to collect fresh deposits despite being unable to honor previous commitments.
Benami properties and lavish spending
The ED’s investigation further revealed that a portion of the funds collected from depositors was siphoned off to create benami assets and support the personal expenses and extravagant lifestyle of key individuals within the group. Some assets were also sold off in exchange for undisclosed cash payments, effectively denying depositors their rightful claims.
During the course of the investigation, statements from several individuals — including depositors, agents, and employees — were recorded under Section 50 of the PMLA. Additionally, searches conducted under Section 17 of the Act led to the seizure of unexplained cash amounting to Rs 2.98 crore.
Ongoing robe
The ED confirmed that further investigation is currently underway to uncover the full scale of the alleged fraud, track the flow of diverted funds, and identify additional benami assets. The case highlights one of the largest financial investigations involving cooperative societies in India and sheds light on systemic financial mismanagement and alleged exploitation of depositors across several states.