ED attaches properties worth Rs 35.22 crore in fraud that saw company’s turnover go from Rs 210 crore to Rs 6,700 crore in two years

As per the probe, Suumaya group and its associates allegedly misled investors and partners by promising them benefits if they invested in the ‘Need to feed programme’. The accused allegedly also made up a bogus Haryana government contract under the guise of the “Need to Feed” programme to obtain funds and trade financing, thereby converting and projecting non-existent business operations as genuine turnover.

The investigation shows that funds received by Suumaya group entities were diverted by Ushik Gala to Delhi and Haryana-based dummy agro trader entities through an agent to falsely depict genuine procurement. No actual agro purchases occurred, instead, the diverted funds were routed back to Ushik Gala through a combination of cash and RTGS entries from other shell entities, ED said.

It added that Suumaya created fake invoices and lorry receipts to simulate large volumes of trade, resulting in circular transactions amounting to Rs 5,000 crore, only about ten per cent of which were
genuine. These transactions were done in a circular pattern that led to increase in turnover of involved entities, ED said.

ED added that these inflated transactions artificially boosted Suumaya turnover from Rs 210 crore to Rs 6,700 crore in two years and caused its share price to soar astronomically, thereby giving a misleading picture to investors in its listed group entities.

Earlier, during the investigation, ED had conducted search operations at 19 locations in Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon. During the searches, ED seized movable assets worth Rs 3.9 crore and a large volume of financial and digital records, along with documents evidencing the offence of money laundering and diversion of funds.