The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Vijay R. Gupta, promoter and director of Vindhyavasini Group of Companies. He was arrested by the Mumbai Zonal Office of ED on 26 March 2025 under the provisions of PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), 2002. ED has said in a post on social media platform X that the case has been registered in connection with the fraudulent loan taken from State Bank of India by Vindhyavasini Group of Companies. The Special PMLA Court has sent Gupta to ED custody for 7 days.
The ED said in the statement that it started its investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the CBI and Mumbai's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against six companies of Vindhyavasini Group and their promoters Vijay R Gupta and Ajay R Gupta.
How did you commit fraud?
According to the ED, the companies allegedly obtained several credit facilities from the State Bank of India using forged and fabricated documents. This led to non-performing assets (NPAs) of Rs 764.44 crore in 2013. The ED investigation revealed that Gupta availed term loans and cash credit facilities in the name of 4 Vindhyavasini Group companies to purchase steel rolling mills in Silvassa and Maharashtra.
Further, they availed loans in the name of M/s Rajput Retail Limited for construction of malls and purchase of commercial properties. These loans were obtained using forged MOUs to avoid investing promoter contributions.
More than 40 shell companies were created
The ED also found that Gupta had created more than 40 shell companies to withdraw and divert loan funds from the group's accounts. The agency has also revealed during the investigation that a part of the loan amount has been used to purchase real estate in Mumbai and surrounding areas. Further investigation is underway in the case.
