New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said that it has provisionally attached assets worth more than Rs 246 crore in connection with its money-laundering probe into the gutkha scam in Tamil Nadu.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the agency said a provisional order for attachment of 174 immovable properties in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh, of the promoters of a gutkha company, has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
While the market value of the immovable assets is Rs 243.80 crore, shares and vehicles worth Rs 2.29 crore have also been attached, it said. The total value of the latest attachment is Rs 246.09 crore. Investigations revealed, the agency said, that A.V. Madhava Rao, P.V. Srinivasa Rao, Tallam Uma Shankar Gupta and others allegedly undertook illegal manufacture, sale and distribution of gutkha products in the state and had a turnover of Rs 639.40 crore between June 2013-June 2016.
The three are promoters of a company, Jayam Industries, which manufactured MDM brand gutkha. The ill-gotten money derived out of this criminal activity was invested in moveable and immovable properties in Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.
