The Enforcement Directorate searched former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda's home, farmhouse and office over an alleged Rs 248.46 crore fraud against 661 investors in four Vatika Limited projects.
The Enforcement Directorate raided three premises linked to former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda in Gurugram on Thursday, his residence, farmhouse and office, as part of a money laundering investigation under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Kanda or his legal team could not be immediately reached for comment on the action, officials said.
The searches are connected to a case against Vatika Limited, which ED officials allege induced investors into commercial projects on promises of timely possession, assured returns, lease rentals and eventual sale deed execution. Four Vatika projects are under investigation, involving the collection of roughly Rs 248.46 crore from 661 investors who officials say have received neither possession nor executed sale deeds to date.
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Officials said the raids on Kanda's properties were aimed at tracking the money trail in the case, on suspicion that funds diverted from the real estate firm were transferred to various companies linked to the former minister. The Tribune reported that the ED's probe found the diverted funds were subsequently moved to companies allegedly connected with Kanda, based on the financial trail uncovered so far.
Kanda, 60, was previously raided by the ED in August 2023 in a separate money laundering investigation. He is a former MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party from Sirsa, where he served as Haryana's minister for home, industries and urban local bodies, and remains president of the party he founded. In 2023, a Delhi court acquitted him in the high-profile abetment-to-suicide case involving Geetika Sharma, a former air hostess at MDLR Airlines, the aviation company he founded and ran.
