ED Searches 15 Places in RS 1,626 CR Money Laundering Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at 15 locations in Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra and Haryana in connection with the Rs 1,626 crore money laundering case involving Pranav Gupta and Vineet Gupta's company Parabolic Drugs Pharma Ltd.

Guptas were also the co-founders at the Ashoka University and had last year stepped down.

An ED source said that the agency teams are carrying out searches in Delhi, Ambala, Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mumbai on the premises linked to Parabolic drugs and its officials.

However, senior officials remained tigh-tlipped on the developments.

The ED case is based on the CBI FIR against Chandigarh-based Parabolic Drugs for allegedly defrauding a consortium led by the Central Bank of India (CBI) of Rs 1,626.74 crore.

Among those booked were Pranav and Vineet Gupta, the co-founders of Ashoka University. Pranav Gupta serves as the Managing Director of Parabolic Drugs while Vineet is one of the directors of the firm.

Others booked by the CBI include directors Deepali Gupta, Rama Gupta, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sanjeev Kumar, Vandana Singla, Ishrat Gill, and the firm's guarantors T.N. Goyal and Nirmal Bansal, and J.D. Gupta.

Following the CBI case and searches at 12 locations against them, the Ashoka University in a statement last year in January had said, "The University has over 200 founders and donors who have made personal philanthropic contributions to Ashoka. Their individual business dealings and operations have no connection to the University."

"In keeping with the high standards for governance at Ashoka, Vineet and Pranav Gupta have already voluntarily stepped down from all Boards and Committees of the University pending the CBI case and are cooperating fully with the investigations," the statement had said on January 6 last year.

The CBI on December 31, 2021 conducted searches at 12 locations in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Faridabad and Delhi at the office and residential premises of the accused.

During the searches, the CBI recovered incriminating documents, articles, and Rs 1.58 crore in cash.

According to the CBI officials, the firm was engaged in the manufacturing of drugs. It allegedly defrauded the consortium of banks through criminal conspiracy and forgery, and funneled loans it took for other uses.