ED arrests Hitesh Patel, Suresh Patel in Rs 325 cr money laundering probe

New Delhi, March 6 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said that it has arrested Hittesh Patel and Suresh N Patel, directors of Shinago Plantations Pvt Ltd, in connection with its probe into a Rs 325 crore money laundering case.

An ED official here said that the two directors were arrested under the sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), by using a network of nearly 20 group entities located in Tamil Nadu.

The official said that during the probe it was revealed that the accused, in collusion with the valuers, availed loans from the erstwhile Corporation Bank (presently Union Bank of India) on the basis of inflated value of the properties offered as collateral and indulged in willful diversion of funds through various group accounts.He said that during the probe, it was found that the funds so availed by various individuals or group concerns in the form of Letter of Credit (LC) and Cash Credit (CC) limits or Agriculture term loans, were transferred within the group entities through circular rotation of money to avail more funds from the Bank without any actual business.

The official said that after one day of judicial custody, a Special Court on Friday remanded both the accused to ED custody for 10 days.