Banker duped of Rs 17.9 crore after buying art claimed to be owned by maharaja: ED

“Investigation has revealed that the purported seller was not a Maharaja but a small-time farmer, who had no means, knowledge or network to acquire such valued art. The seller was positioned to be a Maharaja to lend credibility to the source of such artwork,” the ED claimed. The ED claimed Rajpal projected that the paintings were rare and exclusive, “under the garb of belonging to erstwhile royal families or prestigious private collections”.

“By using such links to ‘rajas’, Rajesh Rajpal made the artworks appear more genuine and valuable, which helped them charge higher prices for such fake artworks and win the trust of buyers,” the ED said. It was alleged Parmar was promised financial benefits and he had signed various documents,, despite being unable to read or write, the ED claimed.

The ED said that the eleventh painting sold to the banker was claimed to be sold by a retired IAS officer, which was not true. To show that the paintings were indeed being transported from the residence of the “Maharaja” and the retired IAS officer, fake courier invoices were made, the ED claims.

The ED referred to Parmar’s statement where he said he had not given any certificate or documents of any paintings to Rajpal and had given a few paintings to the latter in a dilapidated and deteriorated condition, for which Rs 33 lakh was transferred into Parmar’s bank account. The ED also recorded the statement of the son of the late retired IAS officer, from whom one painting was said to have been bought. He said that his father never owned the Bawa painting titled “Krishna with Cows”.

The ED said that of the Rs 17.90 crore, Rs 4.91 crore was shown to have been transferred to companies for the purchase of silver articles, gold and bullion, even as there was no purchase. The ED claims that certain transactions were also made with the money, including silver articles, paintings and sculptures by various artists and a property in Rajasthan, claiming that proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 6.47 crore have been identified and seized, while some amount was spent on personal withdrawals, staff salaries and house rent.

The ED complaint names Rajpal, Rare Art Jewellery Pvt Ltd, Abhishek Jain, the proprietor of Shree Namo Bullion, Manish Sakariya, of Manish Gold Palace, through which transactions to “layer” the money were made, as alleged by the ED, and Vihang Desai, an advocate and partner in a law firm, as accused. It was claimed that Desai had introduced the banker to Rajpal as an art dealer, and enabled Rajpal to misrepresent forged artworks and vouched for their authenticity. Rajpal had given certificates of authenticity to the banker, which the probe showed were fake, the ED claimed.

The court is likely to hear the accused and the ED on the cognisance of the complaint next month.

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