A specialized court handling the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Gurugram has granted a three-day extension of custody for Anil Bhalla, the chairman and managing director of Vatika Limited, as well as Gautam Bhalla, a promoter of the company. This extension is part of an ongoing investigation into a money laundering case involving allegations of Rs 154 crore related to land transactions in Gurugram.
The Bhalla brothers were apprehended on September 28 and were presented before Sessions Judge and Special Judge (PMLA) Narender Sura after their initial four-day custody period lapsed.
During the hearing, special public prosecutors Simon Benjamin and Atul Agarwal, along with Assistant Director Dilip Singh Shaktawat, requested an additional seven days of custody for the Enforcement Directorate (ED). They indicated that while multiple statements had been gathered during the initial custody period, the interrogation was incomplete due to time constraints and the extensive volume of documentation involved.
The ED emphasized the necessity of further custody to allow for confrontations between the Bhallas and both documentary evidence and ten other individuals who have been summoned to provide statements. The agency asserted that this additional time is crucial for uncovering and tracing the proceeds of the alleged crime and determining the involvement of other parties in the transactions.
In opposition, the defense team contended that the ED had ample time to conduct its questioning and accused the agency of issuing witness summons on October 1 solely to prolong custody. They argued that the Bhallas had not been confronted with the individuals whose statements had been collected and were instead interrogated about existing documents already in the ED’s possession.
The defense maintained that the investigation is primarily based on documentary evidence, including publicly available records, and requested the court to deny the extension of custody.
Judge Sura partly granted the ED’s request, stating that continued custody was justified for the ongoing investigation. He noted that, after reviewing the evidence presented, thorough inquiry was necessary, especially since additional individuals had been summoned to provide statements that might need to be clarified with the accused. The court ordered that both Bhallas appear before it again on October 5 at 4 PM.
The ED’s investigation, which began in March following FIRs from the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing, revolves around allegations linked to land transactions involving residential plots in the Vatika India Next projects located in Sectors 82 to 85 and Vatika India Next-2 in Sector 88A.
The agency has claimed that land for plots, which was contracted between 2010 and 2012, was not delivered as promised, and that some plots were redeveloped and sold to third parties. The value of these allegedly undelivered plots is estimated at Rs 140.73 crore.
Additionally, another allegation involves a 2024 agreement with Scaler Ventures regarding 165 plots in Vatika India Next-2, where it is claimed that 14 plots were sold to third parties without proper consent.
The total estimated proceeds from the alleged crimes in this case amount to approximately Rs 154.36 crore.
