Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Hyderabad Zonal Office has achieved a significant milestone by successfully returning five immovable properties worth approximately ₹2.55 crore to Punjab National Bank (PNB) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
These properties were attached during the investigation of a money laundering case involving M/s Ghanshyamdas James and Jewels and its managing partner Sanjay Agrawal. The attached assets include a plot and agricultural land located in Ranga Reddy and Medak districts of Telangana. According to the current market value, these properties are estimated to be worth around ₹16 crore.
The case dates back to 2011 when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Bangalore branch, registered a First Information Report (FIR) on October 19, 2011, against M/s Ghanshyamdas James and Jewels and its partners. The investigation revealed that Sanjay Agrawal allegedly induced the State Bank of India to release 250 kilograms of gold fraudulently based on fake bank guarantees.
Following the exposure of the fraud, Sanjay Agrawal and his brothers Ajay Kumar and Vinay Kumar removed the entire gold stock pledged with PNB from their shop in Hyderabad’s Abids area and sold it in the local market for cash.
Further ED investigations uncovered that Sanjay Agrawal invested the illegal proceeds by opening a new firm in his wife’s name in December 2012. Subsequently, he established three more firms under his brothers and an employee. Large amounts of unaccounted cash deposits were found in the bank accounts of family members and these controlled firms.
Sanjay Agrawal also obtained a passport under the false identity of ‘Shrikant Gupta’ and made several foreign trips. He opened multiple bank accounts to conceal the illicit earnings. The probe also revealed benami properties held in the name of an employee, Avinash Soni.
On February 11, 2022, ED arrested Sanjay Agrawal and provisionally attached nine immovable properties belonging to him, his family, and benami individuals. On April 11, 2022, the ED filed a prosecution complaint in the Special PMLA Court in Nampally, Hyderabad. Since PNB was a victim of the fraud, it was entitled to restitution under Section 8(8) of the PMLA. The ED consented in court for restitution to facilitate the return of the attached properties to the bank.
On January 19, 2026, the Special PMLA Court, Nampally, approved PNB’s petition and permitted the return of five attached properties. The ED completed the restitution process and handed over the properties to the bank. This action sets an important precedent for delivering justice to victim institutions in money laundering cases.
The ED stated that tracing and confiscating proceeds of crime remain its primary objectives. The investigation is ongoing, with efforts to identify additional benami properties.
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