Bhopal court awards 5-year RI to MD of pvt firm in PMLA case

New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) A special PMLA court in Bhopal on Thursday awarded five-year rigorous imprisonment to Ramakant Vijayvargiya, the Managing Director of Distinct Infrastructure Ltd, in connection with a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), besides slapping a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.

The accused had generated proceeds of crime by selling plots to people claiming that he had obtained the necessary approvals from the Madhya Pradesh government to build a colony.

The court also ordered confiscation of the properties attached by the ED in this case.

The ED had initiated a money laundering probe on the bais of an FIR filed by the Bhopal Police under Sections 420, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code in 2010.

Distinct Infrastructure Ltd (DIL), through its MD Vijayavargiya, had cheated people by selling plots in a colony named 'Panchavati Enclave' in Bhopal. The company had made agreements with farmers for purchasing their land and developing the same into a residential colony.

Subsequent to the agreements drawn, Vijayvargiya forged an outlay of the colony, proposed to be built on the said piece of land, without actually having the ownership and possession of the land and without securing government sanctions required for the development of the colony.

He then sold plots to various persons by falsely claiming that DIL had the approval from the Town and Country Planning department for the said colony.

He thus sold 243 plots of the said colony for a consideration of Rs 16.60 crore.

During the course of investigation, it came to light that part of the proceeds of crime was invested in two immovable properties, purchased in the name of DIL.

These two properties, totally valued at Rs 39.89 lakh, were traced and provisionally attached by the ED in 2013. The ED then filed a charge sheet in the case in 2015.