ED attaches Rs 58-crore assets of wife of Bhushan Steel's ex-promoter

New Delhi, The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 58 crore belonging to Ritu Singal, wife of former Bhushan Steel promoter Neeraj Singal, in a money laundering case linked to alleged fund diversion.

The attached properties include land and part of a residential property in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, as well as equity shares and bank balances held in Ritu Singal's name, the agency said in a statement.

A provisional order was issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Jun 24 and the total value of the properties is Rs 58.34 crore.


The case stems from a complaint filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs against Bhushan Steel Ltd (BSL), Neeraj Singal and some others.

After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process, Bhushan Steel was taken over by Tata Steel Ltd in 2018.

The ED alleged Neeraj Singal and associates "diverted" funds from the BSL under the guise of genuine transactions causing a loss of Rs 11,446.73 crore to financial institutions.

Probe found that zinc ingots, purchased from Hindustan Zinc Limited, which were meant for BSL's plants, were sold out of the books in the open market by the accused, it said.

"Cash generated from the off-the-books sale of zinc ingots from erstwhile BSL was used for availing accommodation entries of bogus Long Term Capital Gain from various penny stock companies.

"The siphoning of cash from the out-of-books sale of zinc ingots from BSL was also corroborated by the huge unaccounted cash deposited in bank accounts during the relevant period," the ED alleged.

The agency has earlier attached assets worth Rs 428 crore in this case and also filed two chargesheets against the couple and others.