NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a petition by Amit Katyal – allegedly a close aide of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who was accused of cheating investors in a housing project – seeking to transfer his case to the Supreme Court.The apex court also asked the ED why the case against Katyal, who was last arrested in November, was not transferred to the high court from the special PMLA court in Gurgaon. The court adjourned the matter for hearing on February 23. The case was listed before the International Criminal Court bench, Surya Kant, and Judges Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi.Katyal was first arrested in 2023 in the railway jobs-for-land ‘scam’, in which the other accused – Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, their three daughters, his son and former Bihar MP CM Tejashwi Yadav – are facing bribery and money laundering charges.The agency was surprised when Katyal moved the SC for interim relief, even though his case was pending before the special court, where other cases against him were also pending for adjudication and framing of charges.In November, Katyal was arrested for alleged real estate fraud related to Angle Infrastructure Pvt Ltd of which he is a director and promoter. The ED case is based on FIRs registered by Gurugram and Delhi police over alleged non-delivery of apartments in its Krrish Florence Estate project in Sector 70 in Gurgaon.
“The investigation revealed that he (Katial) obtained a license from another developer fraudulently and started collecting money from potential buyers much before the license was granted by DTCP Haryana, with the total proceeds of crime generated from the activity exceeding Rs 300 crore,” the ED said. The project was left incomplete for more than 10 years with only three towers constructed but not completed, and this led to the initiation of insolvency proceedings by the Home Buyers Association.
