Ghanshyamdas Fraud: ED Returns Assets to PNB
Agarwal had also obtained a passport on a fake identity of 'Srikanth Gupta' and travelled abroad several times where he opened multiple bank accounts for laundering money.
Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate said it had facilitated the process of return — restitution — of five properties valued `2.55 crore to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) following court orders. Their market value is stated at `16 crore. The assets had been seized during the agency’s probe into the alleged fraud by Ghanshyamdas Gems and Jewels, located at Abids here.
According to the ED, the properties were attached during the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the case against Ghanshyamdas Gems and Jewels and its managing partner Sanjay Agarwal. The properties include a plot and agricultural land parcels located in Rangareddy and Medak districts.
The agency took up the investigation based on a FIR registered by the Bank Security and Frauds Cell (BS&FC) of the CBI at Bengaluru against the jeweler and its partners for fraudulently inducing SBI into releasing 250 kgs of gold on the strength of forged bank guarantees submitted by Sanjay Agarwal, purportedly issued by the PNB.
The ED found that when news of the fraud became public, Agarwal and his brothers Ajay Kumar and Vinay Kumar the entire stock of gold from the shop sold it in the local market for cash. This stock of gold had been mortgaged to the PNB.
The ED said the money was invested in a new firm opened in December 2012 by Agarwal in his wife’s name. He also opened three firms in the names of his brothers and an employee.
The ED said unexplained cash deposits were found in multiple bank accounts opened in the names of Agarwal’s family members and firms controlled by him. Agarwal had also obtained a passport on a fake identity of 'Srikanth Gupta' and travelled abroad several times where he opened multiple bank accounts for laundering money. The money trail led the ED officials to benami property acquired in the name of one of his employees, Avinash Soni.
The ED had arrested Sanjay Agarwal on February 11, 2022 and provisionally attached nine immovable properties belonging to him, his family members and benamis and a prosecution complaint on April 11, 2022 before the Special PMLA Court, Nampally.
PNB was pursued to file the restitution application before the Court and ED conveyed concurrence for restitution of immovable properties attached by it so that they could be restored to the bank. The court issued the order on January 19, 2026, allowing the restitution petition.
