Kolkata: Former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kanwar Deep Singh was arrested Wednesday in Delhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged money laundering and Ponzi scheme cases.
Owner of the Alchemist Group, Singh is a businessman who has dabbled in several businesses — his brands include the successful food chain Republic of Chicken in 2008, which he eventually sold. He has represented two political parties in Parliament.
The allegations against him include collecting hundreds of crores of rupees from scores of investors on the promise of higher returns and diverting the money through a web of shell companies.
His arrest led the opposition CPI(M) to allege that Singh had been funding Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s election expenses since 2011, but Bengal’s ruling party claimed it had severed all ties with him after he was named as one of the funders of the Narada sting operation, which allegedly showed Trinamool ministers and MPs taking bribes in 2016.
Officially, he was expelled from the party when his Rajya Sabha term ended in 2018.
Here are the cases Singh faces.
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On many a radar
Singh had been under the scanner of market regulator SEBI, as well as the Income Tax Department, the ED and the CBI, for a very long time before he was finally booked by the ED in 2018.
This case was initiated by Kolkata Police in 2017. According to officials in the ED, Singh had lured many customers to invest in his company on the promise of high returns, and then diverted the funds through a web of companies with dummy directors.
In the case, the ED booked Singh, his son Karandeep Singh, Alchemist Township India Limited, Alchemist Holdings Limited and some other group companies and their directors.
He also faces a second ED case that involves his firm Alchemist Infra Realty Limited. The case dates back to September 2016, when the ED filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the company and its directors were charge-sheeted by SEBI.
The case pertains to a Ponzi scheme through which Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd allegedly collected approximately Rs 1,916 crore from thousands of investors.
The firm was earlier prosecuted by SEBI for launching the scheme without their approval.
In 2015, Alchemist informed the market regulator that it had refunded Rs 1,077 crore and sought more time to return the rest of the amount. SEBI, however, rejected the proposal and filed a chargesheet in March 2016.
The investigation in the case, the ED officials said, revealed that the “proceeds of crime generated by Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd were laundered through a web of companies”.
The funds mobilised were never utilised for the purpose for which they were collected and were transferred to bank accounts of other group companies, which were “mainly paper companies”, ED officials said. From there, the funds were allegedly systematically siphoned off by the accused and used to purchase properties at various locations in the country.
In September 2019, the ED also raided Singh’s official and private residence in Delhi and Chandigarh, and allegedly recovered Rs 32 lakh and $10,000 in cash along with property papers and documents pertaining to various financial transactions. In January 2019, the ED had attached Alchemist assets worth Rs 239 crore.
Last year, he was questioned in connection with the Narada sting case, in which the CBI has booked 12 Trinamool leaders, including MPs and West Bengal ministers, and an IPS officer.
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Sprawling empire
K.D. Singh’s empire in Bengal — current and former — comprises hundreds of offices of the Alchemist Group, three tea gardens in Darjeeling that changed hands in 2016, at least a dozen outlets of Republic of Chicken (food and meat product retail chain), some real estate projects, and a hatchery.
Every bit of his sprawling empire came under the scanner after Singh’s bitter fallout with the Trinamool supremo in 2016, sources in West Bengal Police said.
Over the past three years, Kolkata Police have registered nine cases against Alchemist group companies. “The cases are still under investigation, we may seek his custody,” said an official of Kolkata Police after Singh’s arrest.
A senior ED official claimed the agency had sent at least six letters and reminders to the state between 2014 and 2016, requesting them to register cases against the group, but the requests had fallen on deaf ears.
‘No connection’
Singh first entered the Rajya Sabha as a nominee of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in 2009. He was nominated as the Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Bengal.
After his arrest, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborti sought to emphasise Singh’s links with the Trinamool Congress, saying, “K.D. Singh had been funding Mamata Banerjee’s election expenses since 2011”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said the party had severed all ties with Singh a long ago. “The party has had no connection with K.D. Singh for over almost three years, ever since his Rajya Sabha term ended,” said Roy.
The party, however, questioned the timing of his arrest. “He is the owner of Alchemist Group, which allegedly indulged in fraudulent businesses. The CBI and the ED arrested several other Ponzi owners, including Sarada and Rose Valley. Why was he spared?” he said. “This means he has a patron in the BJP.”
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