Amit Chandole, 46, a Thane resident arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a funds-laundering case was sent to judicial custody (JC) by a court on Sunday.
Chandole was arrested on November 25 in the case involving alleged misappropriations in a contract bagged by Topsgrup with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Chandole was in ED custody till Sunday and was developed just before the court just after which he was sent to JC. The ED registered a case on the basis of the FIR registered with Yellow Gate police station. As per the FIR filed by Ramesh Iyer from Tops Group, Rahul Nanda, promoter and chairman of the group and other connected persons diverted enormous funds from the account of Tops Group corporations to a variety of accounts in India and to accounts of overseas corporations. As per the allegations, the enterprise was defrauded to the tune of Rs 175 crore. Nanda has earlier denied allegations.
The ED had earlier told the court that Chandole is a close confidante of Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik and that he utilised to gather the stated earnings on behalf of Sarnaik. The funds largely utilised to be delivered in money and that one particular Miss Latika Randive utilised to sustain the records for the very same and she utilised to coordinate with Chandole, the ED had earlier told the court citing statements recorded by the agency. According to ED, the statement of Chandole has been recorded on Wednesday, wherein he stated that he came into speak to with Rahul Nanda, promoter and chairman of the group by means of Sarnaik who is his close buddy. The ED has earlier told the court that Chandole, in his statement, stated that there was a contract of Tops Group with MMRDA in which he was sharing 50% of the profit arising out of the contract. The contract was supplying safety to MMRDA lands and that there was no return agreement relating to sharing of 50% profit and it was oral primarily based on trust only. The payment relating to 50% profit share was created to him in money, which was utilised to be offered by Niraj Bijlani, who is ex-CEO of Tops Group. Chandole added that he also utilised to get payments in NEFT and that the money received from Tops Group utilised to be utilised towards household costs.