Raj Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, accepted the fact that he knew Ranjeet Singh Bindra but was not aware that he worked for underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, according to sources.
Kundra was grilled over his business dealings and transactions with Ranjeet Singh Bindra during an interrogation conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday.
India Today TV has learnt that Kundra has accepted that he had business dealings with Bindra but it was purely professional in nature.
Raj Kundra’s statement is being recorded under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Sources said Raj Kundra also submitted documents related to his business dealings with Bindra and RKW Developers.
Bindra is the first accused arrested by the ED in connection to Iqbal Mirchi properties.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) while going through the details of the real estate firm RKW Developers Private Limited, unearthed transactions with Essential Hospitality Limited where actress Shilpa Shetty is also one of the directors along with Raj Kundra.
The director of RKW Developers Private Limited Ranjeet Bindra has already been arrested by the ED.
Dheeraj Wadhwan, also associated with RKW Developers, will be probed by ED over his links with the company.
Since Wadhwan is in hospital, the agency has asked him to join the probe as his condition gets better.
Ranjeet Bindra was allegedly working on the behest of Iqbal Mirchi and played an important role in negotiating property deals for him along with Mirchi’s associate Humayun Merchant.
Sources say that RKW invested Rs 44.11 crore in Essential Hospitality and provided an interest-free loan of Rs 31.54 crore. Over Rs 30.45 crore worth loan was granted to Essential Hospitality between April 2017-March 2018 and Rs 117.17 crore between April 2016 and March 2017.
Another link that is under the scanner is in connection with Essential Hospitality, where one of the directors Placid Jacob Noronha is also a director with RKW Developers. Interestingly, Noronha has served as director of few other companies owned by the Wadhwans including a company named Bawa Realtors where he is a director along with Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra.
Raj Kundra’s company Bastian Hospitality Private Limited had Ranjeet Bindra as the director who was the first person to be arrested by ED in connection with the Iqbal Mirchi’s property case.
Raj Kundra, in a statement earlier, had denied the allegations levelled against him and his wife of knowingly having business dealings with Iqbal Mirchi, an alleged associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Raj Kundra in a statement had said, “In 2011, I sold a plot that I owned near the airport including the company to RKW developers. Everything is documented & verified by my CA. This is the be-all and end-all of the deal. Any loans given to the company in question was after we sold the company to the new owner. We sold a zero debt company! We have never taken a single loan it was taken by the new owners of the company!”
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