ED seizes Rs 30 crore assets in SAGA Group ponzi scam

The Enforcement Directorate has frozen assets worth over Rs 30 crore and seized cash, gold, and nine luxury vehicles in searches linked to the alleged SAGA Group ponzi scheme. The searches were conducted between August 13 and 16 in Mumbai and Bhopal at premises of absconding chairman Sameer Agarwal and his associates. The ED says the group collected over Rs 10,000 crore from more than 30.51 lakh investors through cooperative societies like Loni Urban Multi-State Credit & Thrift Co-operative Society, promising returns that doubled or tripled money in three to five years.

Freepressjournal.in reports that the ED alleges funds were routed through shell companies and hawala channels, with no genuine business activity to generate promised returns. The agency claims Agarwal took control of the society in 2016 and expanded it to over 50 branches in Uttarakhand. Separately, realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com reports the ED attached properties worth Rs 71.60 crore of the Gurugram-based 32nd Avenue Group in a related Rs 500 crore ponzi case, where investors were sold commercial units with fake lease guarantees and multiple sales of the same property.