The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 255 crore of firms associated with Maharashtra MLA from Rashtriya Samaj Paksha Ratnakar Gutte in connection with a Rs 635-crore bank fraud case, the agency said in a statement.
ED has attached assets of Gangakhed Sugar & Energy Ltd, Yogeswari Hatcheries, and Gangakhed Solar Power Ltd under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Gangakhed Sugar is owned by Gutte, who is also the chairman.
ED has alleged that Gutte along with others misused an agricultural loan facility for poor farmers. Under the loan scheme, banks financed sugar farmers (based on their land holdings) to buy inputs and necessary equipment for their crops such as seeds, fertilisers, manure, tractor, pumps and so on.
