ED books Medanta Hospital chief Naresh Trehan in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has booked cardiologist and Medanta Medcity Hospital Managing Director Naresh Trehan under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a case related to the allotment of land for Medanta Hospital.

According to officials, the central agency has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Trehan and 15 others under PMLA in connection with the case.

The case was registered on the basis of an FIR registered by Gurugram Police, an ED official told ANI on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Gurugram Police had booked Naresh Trehan and others for money laundering, corruption, criminal conspiracy, forgery and criminal breach of trust, among other charges, in connection with the case. 

The FIR was registered at Gurgaon Sadar police station at the behest of additional sessions judge Ashwani Kumar on the complaint of a Malibu Town resident named Raman Sharma.

The FIR was registered under several relevant sections of the PMLA, the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Responding to the case, Medanta Hospital in a statement on Wednesday said that the complainant in the matter, Raman Sharma, has made "completely false and baseless allegations".

"Raman Sharma is a known extortionist masquerading as an RTI Activist. Raman Sharma has even been accused of extortion in 2015 and an FIR was registered against him, the case is pending before the Faridabad Court," the statement said.

"In fact, what has been overlooked is that Raman Sharma had previously filed two cases, identical to this one, in Delhi, one in Patiala House Court and one in the Delhi High Court. 

Both these cases were dismissed, and the judge rejected his allegations as vague and unspecific," the statement said.

"After failing in the courts in Delhi, he went to the District Court in Gurugram. He did not disclose before the Gurugram court that the matter had been fully investigated by the Economic Offence Wing at the instance of the ED and after a full inquiry was completed the allegations were found to be baseless," it added.

The statement said that allegations in Sharma's complaint pertain to the 16-year-old land allotment on which the hospital is built and "everything about this land allotment, which was done through a public auction, is absolutely legal".

(With ANI inputs)