In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached the properties worth more than Rs. 70 crores of three firms, including that of IPL franchisee, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) promoted by Shah Rukh Khan. These properties have been attached in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
The ED has said, “The attached properties include bank accounts of Multiple Resorts Pvt. Ltd, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Knight Riders Sports Pvt. Ltd to the tune of ₹ 16.20 crore; 24 acres of land at Ramnagar and Mahishdal in Purba Medinipur of West Bengal; a flat at Dilkap Chambers in Mumbai; 1 acre land at Jyoti Basu Nagar in New Town of Kolkata and one hotel at VIP Road…of Rose Valley Group.”
Rose Valley chit fund scam is one of the biggest scams that rocked the scam of West Bengal in 2013. It was even bigger than the Saradha chit fund scam. According to the Enforcement Directorate, Rose Valley collected over ₹17,520 crores from the public by luring investors with the promise of high returns on their deposits.
While ₹10,850 Crore has been refunded, ₹6,670 Crore worth of deposits remain unpaid. ED added, “The company diverted and siphoned the amount through cheating and had no real business that could repay this amount. Earlier, ED identified and attached properties under PMLA having a tentative market value of around ₹4,680 crore, which includes luxurious resorts, hotels, vehicles, flats, lands, gold, jewellery. With this attachment, the total market value of properties so far attached in Rose Valley group of companies cases has reached around ₹ 4,750 Crore.”
Shah Rukh Khan’s KKR first came into limelight in the context of the Rose Valley chit fund scam last year. In the month of October last year, the ED had questioned the CEO of Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders, Venky Mysore, and Red Chillies Entertainment, both linked to Hindi film industry star Shah Rukh Khan, in connection with the money laundering probe.
Shah Rukh was also called upon and his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
KKR came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate even as the latter alleged that money, more than what was mentioned in the deal that was signed, was transferred between the actor’s Red Chillies, a movie Production and Distribution Company and Rose Valley sponsors of Kolkata Knight Riders. The ED also suspected that money was also transferred abroad via Kolkata Knight Riders.
It must be mentioned here that Rose Valley had given sponsorship money of Rs 5.5 crore to KKR in 2012 during IPL season 5 while during Season 6 in the year 2013, Rose Valley had claimed to have provided Rs 6.05-crore as sponsorship money to KKR.
With ED attaching its properties, KKR’s role seems rather suspicious as far as its dealings with the Rose Valley scam are concerned, something that doesn’t augur well for an actor as popular as Shah Rukh Khan, whom the ordinary citizens look up to as a role model.