Nagpur: Following the arrest of Pankaj Nandlal Mehadia (45) by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Nagpur police in the Rs 8.16 crore investment fraud in last November, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started a probe on money laundering angle, according report in a local Dainik Bhaskar ( DB ) daily.
The report said that the ED has found dealing of Rs 875 crore in the accounts of five companies of Pankaj Mehadia and his associates. More than 450 entries of names have been found registered in the dubious companies. Most of the entries were made to turn black money into white money. The FIR in this matter was registered only after the ED probe confirmed the dubious dealings. Some of the entries are of some big names having entries of Rs 40-50 crore. When confronted, some of the names kept quiet, some could not give proper replies, some candidly admitted dealing with the concerned companies and lost money. Though the list of names is a long one, some came forward to throw light on their dealings.
Gold Rate
Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
Rs 42 crore entry but no reply:
There are five entries of Rs 42.56 crore in the names of five companies – Surender Fiscal Pvt Ltd, Grace Industries, Sun Vijay Rolling Engineering Ltd and some personal entries. When contacted by DB, Sanjay Agrawal deliberately avoided giving any response.
There is one entry of Rs 1 crore in the name of Sandeep Suri Group. In reply, Sandeep Suri told DB it is correct that there is an entry in his name. But my money stuck in the Pankaj Mehadia company is peanuts compared to the money of others. Crores of rupees of big names have stuck in the dealings. “Almost all big guns in the city become victims to the designs of Pankaj Mehadia. Greed for easy money sunk them,” Suri said.
Similarly, there are entries of Rs 45 crore in the name of Vibrate Global Trading Pvt Ltd and Vinod Garg himself and his sons. When contacted by DB at his Lower Parel office in Mumbai, Vinod Garg said he did not want to comment on the issue.
S R Dakhera whose company Mahalaxmi TMT Pvt Ltd has entries of around Rs 40 crore in the five companies informed DB that he had dealings with Pankaj Mehadia and his associates. The entries in his name are correct. We did dealings in good terms but we made a mistake. “I have to take Rs 40 crore from him. But there is no hope of getting back that money,” Dakhera said.
There is an entry of Rs 2.25 crore in the name Golechha Group in the company of Pankaj Mehadia. Vishal Golechha said that they had dealings with him. “But now there is no dealing, hence I would not like to comment on the issue,” Vishal told DB.
Other accused in the investment fraud are Lokesh Santosh Jain (43) of Sadar, Kartik Santosh Jain (40), Golchha Marg Sadar, Balmukund Lalchand Keyal (55) Deshpande Layout and Premlata Mehadia (70) of Sadar.
Pankaj Mehadia, and other accused made dealings of investment worth Rs 875 crore through their companies named Mehadia Sales Trade Corporation, Mehadia Sales Trade Corporation Pvt Ltd, Nandlal D Mehadia, Lokesh Metalicks, Sadguru Enterprises, Nand Sons Logistics Ltd. In April 2017, Pankaj Mehadia and other accused declared themselves bankrupt before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and pleaded they are unable to return money.They also submitted their balance sheets showing neither they can return money nor take money. Subsequently, an offence with Nagpur EOW was registered in November 2021.
Pankaj Mehadia is now behind the bars. Other accused are still at large.
Many big businessmen have fallen into the trap of Mehadia. Most of his victims are the ones who have invested in cash. That was why these victims did not register the complaint to the police. These victims have pressured Mehadia to return their money in different ways but they failed.
