Hyderabad: Buying a property before an alleged offence does not shield it from attachment if it represents the value of proceeds of crime that are no longer available, the Appellate Tribunal under SAFEMA has held, upholding the attachment of ₹41.5 lakh in the Chadalavada Infratech Ltd (CIL) bank fraud case.
SAFEMA tribunal chairman Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari dismissed an appeal by K Sreenivasulu Reddy on Sept 21. The attachment remains subject to the outcome of the criminal trial.
The investigation followed a complaint by SBI deputy general manager Debasish Bhattacharjee and a CBI FIR registered on Sept 28, 2020, alleging cheating, conspiracy and corruption against CIL, Ravindra Babu and the late Chadalavada Venkata Subba Rao. Investigators alleged that diversion of funds caused SBI a loss of ₹166.9 crore. A forensic audit by A Raju and Prasad identified related-party payments, misuse of credit limits and quid pro quo transactions. The ED subsequently initiated a money-laundering investigation under the PMLA.