Atlas Jewellery Raided in Money Laundering Probe
January 25, 22
(IDEX Online) - India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets worth Rs 27 crore ($3.5m) in cash, gold, silver and diamond jewlery from Atlas Jewellery India Limited.
The business's premises and bank lockers in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai were raided in a three-day operation from 20 January.
The ED said it was investigating the jeweler, company founder and former actor MM Ramachandran (also known as Atlas) and his wife Indira under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act over allegations that they had cheated a branch of the South Indian Bank.
'"The accused persons planned and presented forged documents to the bank and availed loan worth Rs 242. 40 crores ($32.4m) during the period of March 21, 2013, and September 26, 2018, and have not repaid the money," the ED said in a statement.
"During the investigation, it was revealed that MM Ramachandran had invested Rs 100 crore ($13.4m) by way of the purchase of equity shares of Atlas Jewellery India Limited (AJIL), New Delhi, and transferred another Rs 14 crore ($1.9m) into the Escrow Account with Axis Bank, New Delhi."
MM (Atlas) Ramachandran, 79, acted in a number of movies and appeared in Atlas Jewellery TV commercials with the slogan "Atlas Jewellery: Janakodikalude Vishwastha Sthapanam" (Atlas Jewellery: The company with crores of people's trust).