ED attaches Delhi’s Ambience Tower in probe against Ambience Group

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached Ambience Tower, a commercial property in Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh area worth 252 crore that belongs to Ambience Group, in a money laundering probe.

The federal agency had launched a probe under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the Ambience Group based on a first information report (FIR) and charge sheet filed by Jammu and Kashmir anti-corruption branch.

“The money laundering probe revealed that M/s Aman Hospitality Pvt Ltd through its promoter Raj Singh Gehlot was sanctioned term loan facility of 810 crore by a consortium of banks led by J&K Bank to part finance its hotel project in Shahdara, Delhi. The loan account later turned into non-performing asset (NPA). It was revealed that Raj Singh Gehlot had diverted loan funds and layered the same through a web of bank accounts belonging to his relatives and Ambience Group companies. In addition to diversion of funds, it was also found that Raj Singh Gehlot had diverted materials to the other project sites of Ambience Group,” ED said in a statement on Friday.

Gehlot was arrested by ED on July 28, 2021. His wife Sheela Gehlot and other directors of Ambience Group companies – Amit Gehlot, Shamsher Singh and Pawan Singh – have been arraigned as accused in the charge sheets filed by ED in September 2021 and November 2022 in the case.

Earlier, ED had attached movable and immovable properties worth 20.20 crore belonging to Raj Singh Gehlot, his family members and Ambience Group companies.

HT reached out to the spokesperson for Ambience Group but they did not respond for comment.