The arrest was made after questioning Ashish Kumar, Kotak Mahindra Bank Manager and Paras Mal Lodha, leading businessman. After which, it was concluded that the entire amount of money that had reached Kotak Mahindra, ie Rs 51 crore and the Rs 13.65 crore which was seized from Tandon's residence, belonged to the lawyer himself.
Notably, Ashish Kumar, the Kotak Mahindra Bank manager, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday for converting Rs 35 crore demonetised currency into new notes, and having alleged links with hawala trader Paras Mal Lodha and Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon.
Both Rohit Tandon and Paras Mal Lodha will be presented before the court the Saket Court here today.
After which, the Enforcement Directorate will again bring the two under remand for further questioning.
While questioning Tandon late last evening, it was found out that the cash seized from his office included the black money of a former Union Minister and some builders from Ghaziabad.
Who is Rohit Tandon?
- Rohit Tandon has been an advocate at the Supreme Court. His father is a former judge at the Punjab High Court.
- He has a law firm by the name of 'Tandon and Tandon law firm' in Greater Kailash. This firm handles the legal matters of hotels, farm houses and real estates.
- Allegedly, Rohit Tandon has his connections with ministers, businessmen and VVIPs.
- Rohit Tandon was also involved in the act of lobbying.
- Tandon made news after he bought a bungalow worth Rs 100 crore in Lodhi Colony in 2014.
- Rohit also owns a lavish farm house in Chattarpur and an office in Dwarka.
- The Income Tax Department had earlier twice conducted raids at Tandon's properties.
- In a similar raid, Tandon's T&T law firm and residence in the same Greater Kailash area conducted by the Income Tax department, the lawyer had declared undisclosed income worth over Rs 125 crore.
Tandon came under the I-T lens when cash amounting to Rs 13.65 crore, including Rs 2.6 crore in new currency notes, was seized from his White House in Greater Kailash-I area of south Delhi during a raid conducted by Delhi Police on December 10.
The Enforcement Directorate on December 23 then questioned the Delhi-based lawyer who allegedly converted over Rs 2 crore of demonetised money into new currency notes with the help of hawala trader Paras Mal Lodha, who was arrested on December 21.
The ED officials summoned Tandon earlier in the day for questioning him in the case at its office in New Delhi.
The agency's move came a day after a court here asked why the ED officials did not yet arrest Tandon even though they arrested Kolkata-based businessman Lodha, who allegedly helped the lawyer to convert his Rs 2.6 crore in old notes into new currency.
Sources said that the ED officials recorded Tandon's statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and questioned him on the basis of documents seized by the agency against him.
Who is Paras Mal Lodha?
- The ED officials arrested Lodha, a leading businessman with interests in real estate and mining, for converting over Rs 25 crore demonetised notes linked to Tandon and industrialist J. Sekhar Reddy into new currency.
- A city court later sent Lodha to seven-day ED custody.
- The agency has sent two phones, allegedly seized from Lodha, for forensic examination as it contained details of some WhatsApp conversations between him and Tandon.
Who is Shekhar Reddy?
- The Reddy case pertains to Chennai where the Income Tax department has made the biggest detection of unaccounted income of over Rs 142 crore.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on on December 21 arrested Reddy, a former Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam Board Member, and two others from Chennai for money laundering after Income Tax (IT) department recently seized 177 kg of gold, Rs 96 crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 34 crore in new currency from their premises.
- Sources said that Reddy had executed a lot of work for the Tamil Nadu government.
ED officials earlier on December 1 raided multiple hawala operators across the country involved in illegal conversion of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to valid legal tender since November 8 demonetisation announcement.
(With inputs from IANS)