ED Searches Kanda Premises in Vatika Probe

GURUGRAM: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday searched three premises linked to former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda as part of a money-laundering investigation into an alleged large-scale real estate fraud involving Vatika Limited, the agency said.

The searches were conducted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and covered Kanda's residence, farmhouse and office in the city. According to the Directorate, the inquiry covers four projects in which about Rs 248 crore was collected from 661 investors who were allegedly promised timely possession, assured returns, lease rentals and execution of sale deeds.

The agency said possession had not been handed over and the promised sale deeds had not been executed till date. It alleged that the collected funds were diverted and subsequently transferred to various companies linked to Kanda. Thursday's searches were aimed at tracing that financial trail by examining transactions, records and other material to establish how the allegedly diverted funds moved and were used, officials said.

The action follows the Directorate's broader investigation into Vatika Limited and its group entities, under which the agency has previously examined allegations that investors paid for real estate projects but did not receive the promised properties or returns. In an earlier search in October 2024, the Directorate said it had seized documents and digital devices relating to investor payments, loans taken by group companies and other financial records.

Kanda founded the Haryana Lokhit Party and earlier served in the Haryana cabinet. The present searches do not by themselves constitute a finding of guilt. Under PMLA procedure, material collected during searches is examined for predicate-offence linkages, layering of funds and beneficial ownership before any further coercive steps are decided.

Homebuyer associations in Gurugram have for years flagged delayed possession and incomplete sale-deed execution in several licensed projects across the city's southern and western corridors. Regulatory remedies before the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority and civil courts run on a separate track from the money-laundering probe. Investors named in the four projects under scrutiny are expected to be approached again if bank trails or digital ledgers recovered during the searches require confirmation of payment timelines.

Local police and municipal agencies were not reported as lead partners in Thursday's operation, which remained an ED-led search under central statute. Premises in residential and farmhouse belts often require coordination for access, sealing of rooms used as offices and imaging of electronic devices. Officials said the focus was on financial documents rather than physical inventory of real estate units.

Any attachment of properties or issuance of summons would depend on analysis of the seized material. The Directorate has not released a public inventory of documents recovered on Thursday. Parallel proceedings, if any, before company-law or real-estate forums were not detailed in the agency note.

For Gurugram's property market, the searches add another compliance marker for promoters already facing delayed-project litigation. Buyers with exposure to the four projects named in the ED brief have been advised by consumer groups to retain payment receipts, allotment letters and bank statements. The agency is expected to continue examining the alleged diversion chain across group companies while the PMLA case progresses.