Bengaluru, March 24 – The Enforcement Directorate's (ED) Mangaluru Sub-Zonal Office has provisionally attached properties, including agricultural land and LIC policies, amounting to ₹1.66 crore in the names of Hariprasad Jayanna and Gajanana Wadeyar, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the case against Harsha Entertainment Private Limited, which involves defrauding investors, according to an official statement on Tuesday.
The ED has provisionally attached properties, including agricultural land and LIC policies, amounting to ₹1.66 crore in the names of Hariprasad Jayanna and Gajanana Wadeyar on March 23, under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, in connection with the case against Harsha Entertainment Private Limited, according to the statement.
"Following the registration of a case, the PMLA investigation was initiated based on an FIR dated April 15, 2017, registered against Satyabodha Khasnis alias Harsha, Sanjeev Khansis, Shreekanth Khasinis, and others, by the Kalaghatagi police station in Dharwad Sub-Division at Dharwad, for collecting money from various individuals by promising high interest rates and failing to honour those promises," the central agency said.
"The ED investigation revealed that the accused persons, Satyabodha Shrinivasrao Khasnis, Sanjeev, and Shreekanth, through their entities, Harsha Life Light and Harsha Entertainment Private Limited, had mobilized huge funds from public investors between the financial years 2009-10 and 2016-17, by promising them exorbitant returns ranging from four to six percent per month on the capital invested," the statement said.
"The investigations also revealed that the accused persons had used the funds mobilized from public investors for purposes such as trading in the share market, producing films, and other unexplained purposes, and had failed to repay investors the amount of ₹22.58 crore," the ED said.
"The investigations revealed that one of the film directors, Pavan Kumar, who had received money from the accused persons, had used part of the funds to purchase LIC policies in the name of his father, Gajanana Wadeyar, and another film director, Hariprasad Jayanna, had used the funds received from the accused persons in cash for unexplained purposes, leading to the attachment of their properties, including LIC policies in the name of Gajanana Wadeyar, valued at ₹1.31 crore, and immovable property in the name of Hariprasad Jayanna, valued at ₹35 lakh, under Section 5 of the PMLA," the ED added.
The central agency also found that film director Pavan Kumar, who had received funds from the accused entities, had used part of the money to purchase LIC policies in the name of his father, Gajanana Wadeyar.
These policies, valued at ₹1.31 crore, have now been attached.
Further investigations are underway.