New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Tuesday that it has attached assets worth over Rs 203 crore in Dubai to the family of notorious criminal Iqbal Mirchi in a money laundering case. The ED said that the attachment properties included 15 commercial and residential properties belonging to Mirchi’s “family members”. These include a hotel named ‘Midwest Hotel Apartment’.
The ED said in a statement that they were valued at Rs 203.27 crore and were temporarily attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Officials said these assets were transferred to the Mirchi family by a Dubai-based company that was owned by the Wadhavan brothers – Kapil Wadhavan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.
Wadhawan is the promoter of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL). He was arrested by the ED in another money laundering case related to allegedly suspicious loans given by Yes Bank. The agency also arrested Kapil Wadhawan in connection with the Mirchi PMLA case, but later got bail.
With this action, the attachment property in this case by the ED has gone up to Rs 776 crore. Two similar attachment orders were issued by the ED in December last year. Mirchi died in London in 2013 and is alleged to have been the right-hand man of Mafia gangster Dawood Ibrahim in drug trafficking and extortion offenses.
