Real estate company Vatika Limited’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director Anil Bhalla and promoter Gautam Bhalla were remanded to four-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an alleged multi-crore plot allotment and money laundering investigation.
The remand orders were passed on September 29 by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Gurugram Tuesday.
Sessions Judge-cum-Special Judge (PMLA) Narender Sura observed that the central investigation agency had established sufficient grounds requiring their custodial interrogation to uncover how investor funds were handled.
“Once ECIR has been recorded, and during investigation, a prima facie case for the commission of offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, has been found… the applicant/Directorate of Enforcement is duty bound to trace the money, reveal the modus operandi adopted by the accused for generating proceeds of crime and its circulation from one source to another. In my considered opinion, the above mentioned goal can be achieved only when the opportunity is given to the applicant-Directorate of Enforcement to interrogate the accused in custody,” Judge Sura held.
Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the Bhallas, strongly opposed the remand plea, describing the case as cooked-up and devoid of prima facie evidence. The defence argued that the transactions underlying the predicate FIRs were purely commercial agreements between corporate entities dating back to 2010-2014.
The counsel pointed out that the police FIRs were lodged in 2026 after an unexplained delay of more than a decade, and that the ED had registered its ECIR in March 2026 but showed no urgency until August.
Further, Anil Bhalla had joined the investigation on Monday with all required records, and that there was no risk of flight given their domestic family roots and assets.
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While the agency had sought a 10-day remand to confront the duo with seized documents and banking trails, the court partly allowed the plea and granted custody for four days, directing that both be produced on October 2 at 3 pm.
In a subsequent order passed on Wednesday, Judge Sura directed the investigating officer to allow family members to meet the two accused during the designated 10 am to 11 am window already allocated for legal counsel.
Judge Sura also directed the investigating officer to ensure the accused are medically examined before custodial interrogation, and that all prescribed medicines and any special diet advised by medical officers during the remand period are provided.
Case background
The money laundering probe was initiated on March 9, stemming from FIRs registered by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) under sections of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and 120B criminal conspiracy.
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The case originally arose from four complaints filed in January 2026 by SEH Realtors, HA Realtors, and Span India. A fifth FIR filed in June by Scaler Ventures Business Solutions was later added.
The prosecution’s case centres on two separate land transactions spanning more than a decade.
The first involves upfront payments collected between 2010 and 2012, where purchaser entities paid approximately Rs 260.30 crore for residential plots in ‘Vatika India Next’ (Sectors 82 to 85) and ‘Vatika India Next-2’ (Sector 88A) projects in Gurugram.
Plot-wise buyer agreements were subsequently executed in 2014 and 2015.
However, the agency alleged that substantial portions of the contracted land remained undelivered even after 14 to 16 years. In Vatika India Next-2, where buyers paid around Rs 90 crore for approximately 1.10 lakh square yards, not a single plot was allegedly handed over.
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According to the ED, when buyers inspected revised zoning plans in July 2025, they discovered that the allotted plots no longer existed, as layout plans had been redrawn and the underlying land re-developed and sold to third parties, leaving plots valued at roughly Rs 140.73 crore undelivered.
The second transaction involves a January 2024 deal in which Scaler Ventures agreed to purchase 165 residential plots in Vatika India Next-2 for Rs 482.84 crore alongside a 12-month buy-back agreement.
As per the ED, Scaler paid Rs 473.18 crore upfront, remitting Rs 423.95 crore directly to lender Sammaan Capital Limited (formerly Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited) at Vatika’s instruction, and paying the remaining Rs 49.22 crore directly to the developer.
Vatika exercised its buy-back option for only 15 plots in August 2024, leaving Scaler as the absolute owner of the remaining 150 plots.
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Despite this, and while arbitration proceedings were pending before the Delhi High Court, Vatika allegedly terminated the contract and sold 14 of those remaining plots to third parties between October 2024 and May 2025 for Rs 13.62 crore without Scaler’s knowledge or consent.
The agency has presently quantified the total proceeds of crime at approximately Rs 154.36 crore.
The ED submitted in court that its analysis of Vatika Limited’s primary account showed that customer funds were diverted away from project development to promoter-linked entities, including Aspire Promoters, Lincoln Developers, Everlast Projects, Famousdwellers, Wang Investment and Finance, and Vatika Hotels.
The agency alleged that the wider Vatika Group functioned through a network of roughly 22 land-owning shell companies that had no employees or independent commercial activities and existed solely to hold land, issue corporate guarantees, and handle mortgages.
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Assets and seizures
The remand records also detailed seizures made during search operations conducted across seven premises on August 25, 2026.
From Gautam Bhalla’s residence, officers seized a Mercedes-Benz GLC 300, jewellery valued at Rs 1.55 crore, and froze bank accounts and fixed deposits worth Rs 3.04 crore in his wife’s name.
Searches at Anil Bhalla’s residence resulted in the seizure of a Mercedes-Benz sedan registered to Vatika Hotels, a BMW 5-Series sedan, jewellery valued at Rs 1.34 crore, and the freezing of bank accounts and fixed deposits totalling Rs 14.4 crore held by Anil and Kanchan Bhalla.
The ED informed the court that the Bhalla family holds substantial assets abroad, including a residential property in London held through a family trust, the funding of which is under scrutiny.
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Representatives of Vatika said they did not wish to comment on the matter at this time.
The Gurgaon district administration on Wednesday had frozen bank accounts of Vatika over alleged Rs 80 crore in unpaid dues ordered by the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
