Ahmedabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Ahmedabad Zonal Office, has provisionally attached properties worth ₹4.92 crore belonging to Dhirubhai Bababhai Sharma, the then Field Supervisor of the Gujarat Land Development Corporation, Anand, Gujarat, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attached properties include a commercial shop, a residential house, agricultural land, and Jalashray Resort at Nadiad, Gujarat, among others.

The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the ACB Police Station, Anand, against Dhirubhai Bababhai Sharma under Sections 13(1)(b) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for possession of disproportionate assets amounting to ₹8.04 crore (354.56%) in excess of his known sources of income during the period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2018.

Dhirubhai Bababhai Sharma, his family members, and their company, M/s Jalashray Resort Pvt. Ltd., had collectively taken secured and unsecured loans. During the investigation, it was found that the repayment of the loans availed was primarily made through cash deposits in various bank accounts. Instead of using conventional banking channels, large amounts of cash were deposited into their accounts and were then immediately transferred to Krishna Finance as loan repayments. This pattern indicates a classic money-laundering technique, wherein illicit funds were first introduced into the banking system through cash deposits and then used to settle financial liabilities, thereby obscuring their origin. Additionally, some of the repayments were routed through multiple accounts, further complicating the financial trail and raising suspicions of fund layering to conceal the true source of money.

M/s Jalashray Resort Pvt. Ltd. was established on 01.02.2012 by the son and wife of Dhirubhai Sharma on 52 guntha of land purchased in 2007 for ₹5.40 lakh. The resort received an initial secured loan of ₹5.50 crore and later increased its funding with a ₹7.85 crore loan in 2018. Dhirubhai Sharma and his family also availed ₹1.19 crore in the form of unsecured loans during 2015–2020 for the purpose of development of the resort. The resort’s development was financed through a combination of loans, cash deposits in bank accounts, and transfers from various sources, including funds received from M/s Preya Services, an entity in which the daughter-in-law of Dhirubhai Sharma holds a 50% stake.

Further, Dhirubhai Sharma has LIC and Max Life Insurance policies in the names of himself and his family members, and had made premium payments in cash. On maturity, the amounts from these policies were transferred into his personal savings account.

Further investigation is in progress. DeshGujarat