The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said that it had frozen shares worth Rs 700 crore after raids on Karvy Stock Broking (KSBL) CMD Comandur Parthasarathy and others as a part of a money-laundering investigation against them. 

Mr Parthasarathy is currently lodged in the Chanchalguda jail of Hyderabad after being arrested by the Telangana police last month. 

The ED searches were carried out on September 22 at six locations in Hyderabad and on various premises of Karvy group of companies, connected entities and residential premises of Mr Parthasarathy, the agency said in a statement today. 

“Several incriminating evidences in the form of property documents, personal diaries, electronic devices, email dumps, etc have been seized and are being analysed,” the statement said. 

“It is reliably learnt that C Parthasarathy is trying to offload his shares in the group companies through private deals, and thus, in order to preserve the proceeds of crime till further investigation, ED has issued a freezing order on September 24, and the estimated value of these shares has been arrived at Rs 700 crore as per the valuation for the year 2019-20,” it added. 

These shares of the Karvy Group are being held “directly and indirectly” by CMD Parthasarathy, his sons Rajat Parthasarathy and Adhiraj Parthasarathy and their entities. 

The ED’s case, filed under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), is based on a Telangana police FIR, alleging that KSBL had “illegally pledged the securities of its clients and taken a loan of Rs 329 crore and diverted the same”. 

“Another FIR has been registered by central crime station of Hyderabad police for defrauding IndusInd Bank to the tune of Rs 137 crore, and one more FIR has been registered by Cyberabad police authorities for defrauding ICICI Bank to the tune of Rs 562.5 crore,” the ED’s statement said.