Bharana allegedly duped over 30 lending institutions and nearly 3,000 homebuyers to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore
Bank details and documents forwarded to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) accessed by DNA have revealed that Delhi-based industrialist Hem Singh Bharana (55) duped almost all leading Indian banks in the country. The modus operandi was simple – borrow loans from financial institutes under his flagship company ERA Infra Engineering Ltd (EIEL), default payments and launder money. Bharana allegedly duped over 30 lending institutions and nearly 3,000 homebuyers to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore. Banks documents, in possession of DNA, shows Bharana's company EIEL, listed in the stock market, was declared a non-performing asset over 8,278 Cr from 22 banks as on May 31, 2016.
Bharana was arrested by the Gurgaon police on July 14, 2015, in connection with fraud in his real estate projects. However, he was released on bail in September 2015. Emails, SMS sent to Bharana seeking comments did not elicit any response at the time of going to the press.
A complaint was forwarded to the PMO three years ago, against Bharana, Rekha Bharana, director of EIEL, Bijander Singh Chaprana, director of Desert Moon Realtors Pvt Ltd for cheating banks and homebuyers. They collected money through pre-launches and bought lands and raised heavy loans on those lands.
For instance, Adel Landmarks (earlier known as Era Landmarks) raised Rs 2,557 crore via mortgage and another Rs 500 crore from buyers of different projects in Gurugram.
In this way, Bharana fraudulently collected and transferred more than Rs 3,000 crore to EIEL. Bharana allegedly also transferred huge amounts of the siphoned off money to his British Virgin Islands-based company, Peach Glow Holdings Ltd.
Adel Landmarks and other subsidiaries ran a collective investment scheme from 2010 to 2013 and purchased lands in Gurugram. They mortgaged the land to various private and PSU banks and financial institutions including UCO Bank, Vijaya Bank, ICICI, Axis, IFCI, and SBI at inflated prices than their actual value.
Bharana's realty subsidiaries, Desert Moon Relaters Private Limited got a license to launch Cosmos City 3 in 2012. Promoters verbally told buyers that India's top PSU banks including SBI would provide loans for the housing project along with Vijaya Bank, LIC Housing finance and PNB housing finance limited. The SBI tied up with the firm for the project and even uploaded information on its website on July 27, 2013. One of the complaints to police commissioner said, "The banks knew that ADEL Landmark did not have necessary approvals to start construction of the project. The license was taken in the name of Desert Moon Relaters but marketed by ADEL Landmarks."
The SBI had disbursed the loan to Bharana's Cosmos 3 project, Gurgaon but the land was already mortgaged with Kolkata-based Seri equipment financial company for Rs 74 crore. The loan money was not used for the said project but diverted to EIEL.
According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) data, ADEL Landmarks' 47 subsidiaries had raised more than Rs 16,205 crore by 2015, including Desert Moon from ICICI, Axis Trustee Service, Milestone Trustee, IL&FS Financial, Yes Bank, Dena Bank, IFCI, UBI, SBI, Money Matters SREI Equipment, Canara Bank, IDBI Trustee, Sicom Ltd, Vijaya Bank and others.
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For instance, Adel Landmarks (earlier known as Era Landmarks) raised Rs 2,557 crore via mortgage and another Rs 500 crore from buyers of different projects in Gurugram.
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