ED puts seized Hawker jet on auction to repay fraud victims

The ED has put a seized Hawker 800A business jet, bought for Rs 14 crore by Falcon Group CMD Amardeep Kumar, up for auction as part of efforts to repay victims of a Rs 792-crore invoice-discounting scam. The auction is scheduled for December 9

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate has put up for auction a seized business jet, purchased in 2024 for about Rs 14 crore, as part of efforts to recover funds for victims of an alleged investors’ fraud.

The Hawker 800A aircraft, bearing registration number N935H, was seized by the probe agency in March during raids conducted at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad.

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The searches were part of a probe against the Falcon Group (Capital Protection Force Private Limited), its chairman-cum-managing director Amardeep Kumar and others for allegedly “defrauding” investors in a bogus invoice-discounting scheme involving an amount of Rs 792 crore.

The plane was purchased by Amardeep in 2024 for USD 1.6 million, the ED said in a statement on Tuesday. It alleged Amardeep Kumar “fled” the country using the said aircraft and is currently “absconding”.

The plane was seized by the sleuths of ED’s Hyderabad zonal office after it returned and was parked at the RGIA.

The aircraft is currently parked at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad and is available for inspection till December 12, according to the agency. Its auction will be conducted by Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) on December 9.

“The proceeds from the sale of the aircraft shall be eventually used for restitution to the victims of the scam,” the ED said in a press release.

The Adjudicating Authority established under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) confirmed the ED’s provisional attachment order in August and the agency subsequently moved an application before the authority to take possession of the movable asset so that it can be sold.

The authority allowed the ED to auction the plane via an order issued on November 20. The ED started investigation following an FIR filed in February by the Cyberabad Police which alleged that Kumar launched an invoice-discounting scheme under the name and style of “Falcon Invoice Discounting” and duped gullible investors of Rs 792 crore.

The agency arrested three people in the case — Kumar’s brother Sandeep Kumar, chartered accountant Sharad Chandra Toshniwal and Capital Protection Force COO Aryan Singh Chhabra. It also filed a chargesheet before a special court in Rangareddy in September.