A bank fraud case that first surfaced with a CBI raid in 2020 has resurfaced with far greater intensity, as the Enforcement Directorate’s coordinated searches across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab have uncovered property documents worth approximately ₹75 crore, tying the alleged proceeds of a ₹450 crore consortium loan fraud to real estate registered in the names of family members and associated entities.
The ED’s Lucknow Zonal Office conducted the raids at ten locations, targeting the residences and business premises of promoters, directors and firms connected to Santosh Overseas Limited, a Bulandshahr-based company at the centre of a money laundering investigation that traces back to allegations first raised by a consortium of banks led by IDBI Bank.
A Fraud That Began With a Fake Purchase Order
The origins of the case date back years, when the CBI booked Santosh Overseas and its director, Sunil Mittal, over allegations that the company had availed packing credit from a seven-bank consortium based on a fabricated purchase order from an associate concern. Investigators at the time also found the company maintained current accounts with banks outside the consortium, routing sale proceeds through them without the knowledge of the lenders who had actually extended the credit, a structure that effectively let the company hide its real cash flows from the very banks financing it.
That original CBI case, alleging a fraud of roughly ₹424 crore, has since evolved under the ED’s money laundering probe into an investigation now pegged at approximately ₹450 crore, as investigators have worked through years of financial records to establish exactly where the diverted funds eventually landed.
From Bank Loans to Bulandshahr Real Estate
According to the ED, the loan funds were allegedly diverted and layered through a network of shell entities, accommodation entry operators and related companies, using fake invoices and circular financial transactions designed to make illegitimate money appear as ordinary business activity. That layering process, moving funds through multiple companies before their final use, is the same laundering technique investigators routinely encounter in far smaller cyber fraud cases, deployed here at a corporate scale.
The property documents recovered in Friday’s raids, valued at around ₹75 crore, are registered in the names of family members of the accused directors as well as entities allegedly linked to them, according to the agency. Investigators are now examining whether those assets were acquired directly using proceeds traced back to the diverted bank funds, a determination that will likely shape whether formal attachment proceedings follow under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Building the Money Trail Through Digital Evidence
Beyond the property records, the searches yielded ₹10.5 lakh in cash, digital devices and financial documents that the ED says will now undergo forensic examination to reconstruct the flow of funds between bank accounts, companies and individuals. Officials say comparing this seized material against banking data and corporate filings already gathered during the investigation will be central to identifying additional beneficiaries who may have knowingly profited from the alleged fraud rather than simply lending their names to it.
The agency has not disclosed the full list of individuals covered by the search operation, citing the sensitivity of an investigation it describes as being at a crucial stage. What is clear is that the case remains active on multiple fronts: officials say further searches, asset attachment proceedings, or additional legal action could follow depending on what the seized documents and digital records ultimately reveal about how a loan fraud first flagged five years ago was allegedly converted into land, buildings and other assets scattered across three states.
