By Atul Krishan

New Delhi, Apr 23 (IANS): Sanjay Chandra, the ex-promoter of the Unitech Group, is currently lodged in a Mumbai jail along with his brother Ajay.

Both were arrested in 2017 by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police in connection with real estate fraud. They were accused of cheating home buyers on the pretext of a Gurugram based project and since then they are behind the bars.

Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), filed a case on the basis of the FIR lodged by the Delhi Police and started an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED arrested them under the PMLA in December last year. They were brought to Delhi and lodged in Tihar Jail. Later, in January, they were shifted to the Mumbai jail.

Preeti Chandra, the wife of Sanjay, is presently lodged in jail number 6 (woman ward) of Tihar Jail. His father Ramesh Chandra is in jail number 2 of Tihar Jail. Preeti was arrested in 2018.

They are accused of cheating home buyers to the tune of Rs 5500 crore and siphoning off the entire amount to a tax haven like Cyprus. The ED is trying to bring back this money.

The Enforcement Directorate had attached assets of the firm valued at Rs 1000 crore.

The ED had recently claimed that Preeti Chandra was actively involved in a huge money laundering operation, and she was operating from the UAE.

She is holding the passport of the Dominican Republic with which India has no extradition treaty. She acquired Dominican Republic citizenship in April 2016.

Her children are living in the US holding American passports. A lookout circular was also opened against Preeti Chandra before her arrest. She has assets in the Cayman Islands, Mauritius and Singapore.

She has also been accused of using jail officials to pass messages to her family members.

On October 12, as many as 32 Tihar Jail officials were found complicit with the former Unitech promoters. It was alleged that the Chandra brothers were conducting business from inside Tihar Jail in connivance with the prison staff.

Preeti Chandra was allowed to attend the funeral of her grandmother for five hours.

The Central government had taken over the management of the firm in a bid to get justice for the three thousand home buyers who were allegedly cheated by the Chandra family.