Mumbai, Jan 14 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement’s (ED) Mumbai Zonal Office has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth approximately Rs 35.22 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case involving M/s Suumaya Group and others, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The attached assets include bank balances, demat holdings, mutual fund investments, and two immovable properties, the ED said.

The financial probe agency initiated its investigation based on an FIR registered by Worli Police Station against several individuals and entities, including M/s Suumaya Industries Ltd and its promoters, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the ED, the accused conspired to embezzle funds amounting to Rs 137 crore by luring investors with promises of future benefits under a purported ‘Need to Feed’ programme.

The investigation revealed that the Suumaya Group and its associates fabricated a bogus Haryana government contract under the guise of the “Need to Feed” programme to raise funds and secure trade financing.

The group projected non-existent business operations as legitimate turnover, ED alleged.

ED findings further indicate that funds received by Suumaya Group entities were diverted by promoter Ushik Gala to dummy agro-trader entities based in Delhi and Haryana through intermediaries to falsely depict genuine procurement activities. No actual agro purchases took place. Instead, the diverted funds were routed back to Gala through cash and RTGS transactions using shell entities.

The agency also stated that Suumaya Group created fake invoices and lorry receipts to simulate large-scale trade, resulting in circular transactions worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore, of which only about 10 per cent were genuine. These circular transactions artificially inflated the turnover of the group entities.

As a result, Suumaya’s reported turnover surged from Rs 210 crore to Rs 6,700 crore within two years, leading to a sharp and misleading rise in the company’s share price and misrepresentation to investors in its listed group entities, the ED said.

Earlier, the ED conducted search operations at 19 locations across Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurugram, during which it seized movable assets worth Rs 3.9 crore, along with substantial financial and digital records and documents allegedly evidencing money laundering and fund diversion.

During the course of the investigation, the ED arrested Gala under Section 19 of the PMLA on November 17, 2025.

–IANS

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