ED attaches assets worth Rs. 7.54 cr of red sanders smuggler R Selvaraj

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth more than Rs. 7.54 crore belonging to R. Selvaraj and his family in red sanders smuggling case.

The attached assets include eight residential plots in Aathoor and Pudhu Erumaivettipalayam, Redhills, Tamil Nadu; six plots of agricultural land in Vallakottai village, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu; two house properties in Chennai and Pondicherry; and movable properties of Rs. 2.07 crore in the form of assets of Sanjana Metalware India Pvt. Ltd.

ED is probing the case on the basis of an FIR filed by the AP police and the commissionerate of Customs, Chennai.

Who is Selvaraj?

R. Selvaraj is one of the many red sanders/sandalwood smugglers who earned crores over the years from these illegal activities. He invested the money so earned in immovable properties and as paid-up capital, unsecured loans, etc. in his related company Sanjana Metalware India Pvt. Ltd.

This was done to layer the proceeds of crime and to claim them as untainted assets, the ED said. The investigation established that the said assets were illegally acquired from the proceeds of crime generated through the unlawful activities related to the smuggling of red sanders/sandalwood and other criminal activities. Accordingly, the assets were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The total worth acquired by the accused in this case is Rs. 2.74 crore. ED has attached properties with a book value of Rs. 2.74 crore. The present market value of these assets is approximately Rs. 7.54 crore.

Subsequently, charge-sheet and prosecution complaints were filed by the AP police and the prosecution wing of the Chennai Customs department, respectively, against Selvaraj and others before the competent courts in Chittoor, AP, and Chennai.

He was also detained under COFEPOSA and has been charged with contraventions of Sections 135 and 132 of the Customs Act and under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, the Biodiversity Act 2002, and the Arms Act.