SRINAGAR — The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Srinagar Zonal Office, has provisionally attached immovable properties valued at Rs. 10.63 Crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The action comes in connection with the misuse of the Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) scheme.
crackdown on 11 Assets
The provisional attachment order covers 11 assets consisting of lands and buildings located in the Srinagar and Bandipora districts of Kashmir.
These properties are found to be in the possession of suppliers-cum-brokers and a bank official of J&K Bank who were allegedly involved in misusing the PMEGP scheme.
Investigation Origin and Findings
The ED's investigation was initiated based on two FIRs filed by the ACB and CBI, Srinagar. The allegations pointed to the misappropriation of PMEGP scheme loan amounts through a criminal conspiracy involving PMEGP borrowers, bank officials from the Sumbal and Gamud Gadkhud branches of J&K Bank, and unknown persons.
Investigations revealed that loans were availed by projecting dummy borrowers, utilizing fake invoices of non-existent firms, and collaborating with bank officials. A fresh FIR was also registered by the CBI and ACB in June 2026.
Surveys conducted under Section 16 of the PMLA at the Sumbal and Gamud Gadkhud branches uncovered that 270 term loan accounts and 270 working capital accounts under the PMEGP scheme had turned into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), amounting to approximately Rs. 32 Crore.
Diversion of Proceeds and Key Figures
According to the investigation, the suspected proceeds of crime were diverted through multiple bank accounts and used for asset construction, renovation, and personal enrichment. Hilal Ahmad Wani and others allegedly played a major role in fraudulently inducing borrowers to take PMEGP loans.
By using KYC documents of these borrowers alongside fake invoices from non-existing firms registered under suppliers-cum-brokers or their family members, the loans were sanctioned in criminal conspiracy with J&K Bank officials.
The ED has traced proceeds of crime totaling Rs. 11.37 Crore. Because a bulk of these funds were siphoned off and utilized for assets held in the name of family members, authorities have provisionally attached the 11 assets under Section 5(1) of the PMLA to safeguard their value.
Further investigation into the matter is currently underway.
