ED attaches ₹53.28 Crore assets of retired Assam DIG, four Guwahati hotels under scanner

Guwahati, June 28: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth ₹53.28 crore belonging to retired Assam Police officer Prasanta Kumar Dutta, his family members and associated companies in a money laundering case linked to alleged disproportionate assets.

The Guwahati Zonal Office of the ED said the action was taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The investigation stems from an FIR registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Branch of Assam Police under the Prevention of Corruption Act, accusing Dutta, a former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police who retired in 2019, of amassing assets far beyond his known sources of income during his service between 1992 and 2019.

According to the ED, while the disclosed income of Dutta and his wife stood at about ₹7.23 crore and their declared expenditure at ₹9.04 crore, investigators found undisclosed assets worth around ₹77.21 crore, with net disproportionate assets estimated at ₹79.01 crore.

The probe further revealed that the alleged proceeds of crime were laundered through three closely held companies — Mahamaya Estates Pvt. Ltd., Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. and Murari Commodities Pvt. Ltd. The agency said the registered offices of these companies were found to be non-existent.

Investigators also uncovered unexplained cash transactions amounting to ₹14.75 crore, allegedly routed through family members and companies and layered via fictitious shareholders, Kolkata-based shell entities and circular bank transfers before being invested in hotel properties in Guwahati and residential flats in Mumbai.

The ED claimed that many of the shareholders in the companies were “dummy” or name-lending shareholders with no independent source of income and were unable to explain the origin of funds attributed to them.

In a significant finding, the agency said that in 2022-23, three years after his retirement and after the predicate FIR and Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) were already on record, Dutta allegedly got 3.7 lakh shares of Ishan Commercial Pvt. Ltd. transferred from fictitious shareholders into his own name, making him the largest shareholder with more than half of the company’s equity.

The attached properties include four hotels in Guwahati- Hotel Bhargav, Paltan Bazar, Bhargav Inn, GS Road, Paltan Bazar, Hotel Bhargav, Ishan Arcade, Lokhra Chariali and Hotel Bhargav Grand, Betkuchi.

The ED has also attached two residential flats at Samartha Deep in Andheri (West), Mumbai.

The agency said further investigation into the alleged money laundering network and the source of funds is continuing.

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