Former Jaypee Infratech MD Manoj Gaur sent to 14 days’ judicial custody: What ED found and how the alleged Noida scam unfolded

A Delhi court on Tuesday sent former Jaypee Infratech managing director Manoj Gaur to 14 days’ judicial custody in a money laundering case linked to a massive alleged fraud involving homebuyers.

Gaur had earlier been in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody for five days after his arrest on 13 November. He was produced before the sessions court at the end of his custodial interrogation. The court agreed to the ED’s request and ordered that Gaur be sent to jail for 14 days.

What is the case about?

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Gaur in connection with an alleged Rs 14,599 crore fraud involving funds collected from thousands of homebuyers. According to the agency, the money meant for building and completing housing projects was diverted for other purposes. This left the projects stalled and the buyers without their promised homes.

What does the ED allege?

The ED claims that two companies of the Jaypee Group, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) and Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), together collected over Rs 33,000 crore for two major residential projects:

• Jaypee Wishtown in Noida
• Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida

The agency alleges that instead of using this money for construction, the companies diverted large amounts elsewhere, resulting in severe delays and financial losses for homebuyers.

How did the investigation begin?

The probe began after several FIRs were filed by the Economic Offences Wings (EOW) of Delhi Police and Uttar Pradesh Police. These FIRs came from homebuyers who complained of cheating, criminal conspiracy, and breach of trust by the company and its promoters.

Following these complaints, the ED launched its investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Searches across multiple cities

On 23 May, the agency carried out searches at 15 locations across Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Mumbai. These included offices and properties linked to JAL and JIL. The searches were part of efforts to gather evidence related to the suspected diversion of funds.

Inputs from PTI