The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mumbai Zonal Office, took into custody Purushottam Chhaganlal Mandhana, the former Chairman and Managing Director of M/s Mandhana Industries Limited (MIL), which has since been liquidated.
The arrest was made under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The case pertains to allegations of bank fraud involving MIL and several other entities.
Officials stated that Purushottam Mandhana was presented before a Special Court on July 19, where he was granted custody to the ED for a period of 6 days.
According to a press statement by ED officials, the agency launched an investigation following an FIR filed by CBI, BS & FB, Mumbai against MIL (now GB Global Ltd), Purushottam Mandhana, Manish Mandhana, Biharilal Mandhana, and others. The complaint, lodged by Bank of Baroda, alleges a consortium of banks was defrauded of ₹975.08 Crore.
‘MIL and its directors hatched a criminal conspiracy to cause loss to banks and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves by diverting loan funds through fraudulent transactions and circular trading. CBI has not filed the charge sheet in the case. But the ED investigation revealed that Purushottam Mandhana has hatched a criminal conspiracy along with other directors of the company and caused a wrongful loss to the banks for personal enrichment’ an ED official stated.
According to the ED’s report, Purushottam Mandhana allegedly had a hidden agenda, establishing multiple fictitious entities under his employees’ names. These entities were purportedly utilized to layer funds belonging to MIL, including loan funds.