The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Anil Bhalla, chairman-cum-managing director of Vatika Ltd, and promoter Gautam Bhalla under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case involving alleged non-delivery of residential plots in Gurugram, the agency said on Wednesday.
The ED’s Gurugram zonal office arrested the two on September 28 under Section 19 of the PMLA. They were produced before the special PMLA court in Gurugram on September 29, which remanded them to ED custody till October 3.
The case stems from multiple FIRs registered by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police under Sections 420, 406 and 120-B of the IPC, alleging fraudulent inducement and non-delivery of plots. The ED registered an ECIR against Vatika Ltd, its promoter-directors Anil Bhalla, Gautam Bhalla and Gaurav Bhalla, and others.
According to the ED, seven purchaser entities paid about ₹260 crore upfront between 2010 and 2012, described as the entire sale consideration, for residential plots in Vatika India Next (Sectors 84/85) and Vatika India Next-2 (Sector 88A). Plot-wise agreements followed in 2014 and 2015, but layouts were later revised, allotted plots were renumbered or relocated, and the land continued to be allotted and sold to other buyers.
In India Next-2, not a single plot out of about 1.10 lakh square yards bought for roughly ₹90 crore has been delivered in about 14 years, while delivery in India Next has been only partial. Plots worth about ₹140.73 crore remain undelivered.
The ED said Anil Bhalla personally supervised key decisions in the transactions under investigation. Gautam Bhalla executed important agreements, held directorships in the land-owning entities and controlled and managed their operations. Major decisions were taken jointly by the two, it said.
The project land was held through about 22 group companies that had no employees or separate business activity. They were mainly used to give corporate guarantees and manage the land bank, including its mortgage to financial institutions. Scrutiny of Vatika Ltd’s bank accounts showed that money from purchasers was not used only for the projects it was collected for. It was allegedly moved to other group companies and promoter-linked entities outside these projects.
In a separate 2024 transaction, Scaler Ventures paid ₹473.18 crore under an agreement to sell and a buy-back agreement. Only 15 of the 165 plots were bought back, and 14 of the remaining 150 were allegedly sold to third parties for about ₹13.62 crore without Scaler’s knowledge or consent. The ED has so far quantified the proceeds of crime at about ₹154.36 crore.
Earlier, the agency searched seven premises under Section 17 of the PMLA. From the residence of one of the accused, it recovered a Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 and gold and diamond jewellery weighing over 1.3 kg, valued at about ₹1.55 crore. Bank accounts and FDRs worth about ₹3.04 crore were also frozen.
