The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday (February 16) has taken major action against News Click and its Chief Editor Prabir Purkayastha. Under Foreign Exchange Management (FEMA), ED has issued him a notice of fine of Rs 184 crore. This action has been taken against him for violation of foreign exchange rules. ED officials gave this information.

According to PTI, it has been made clear in the order that a fine of Rs 120 crore has been imposed on ‘PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited’, the company owned by news portal ‘Newsclick’, while a fine of Rs 64 crore has been imposed on Chief Editor Purkayastha for the alleged violation. This action has been taken for violating the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Which includes giving wrong details of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) funds and wrong declaration of services and exports. No response has been received from ‘NewsClick’ yet on this big action of ED.

The Enforcement Directorate had taken action on the matter for the first time in September 2021, when it raided the office of Newsclick located in Saidulzab area of ​​New Delhi on charges of money laundering. In the case, the investigating agency has recorded the statements of more than 25 people including Rakayastha, the chief editor of the news portal ‘Newsclick’. The news portal and its founder are being investigated by several agencies including CBI, ED on allegations ranging from alleged anti-national activities to money laundering and violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

In the year 2023, BJP had accused Newsclick and its associated promoters of corruption, citing a news of the American newspaper ‘New York Times’. The article said that the portal is part of a global network that receives funding from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government’s media apparatus. Newsclick website was established in the year 2009. Whose website states that it is an independent media organization, dedicated to covering news focusing on progressive movements from India and elsewhere.

ED has given Bangalore’s big real estate company Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt. Ltd. And has taken major action against its promoters. In the case of money laundering, ED has attached assets worth Rs 423.38 crore on 4 October 2025. This action has been taken under PMla.

ED investigation is based on several FIRs, which were registered in different police stations in Bangalore city. In these FIRs, the company and its promoters were accused of fraud and conspiracy. Apart from this, on the order of the Supreme Court, CBI, EO-I, New Delhi also registered a case against the company.

Thousands of home buyers do not capture flat

Investigation has revealed that Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt. Ltd. Did not complete their housing projects on time and did not capture the flat to thousands of home buyers. The company had promised to woo the people that the EMI of home loan would be filled itself till it is captured, but later neither gave EMI nor returned flat or money. ED investigation has revealed that the company and its promoter S.K. Vasudevan grabbed around Rs 927 crore from buyers … He transferred this money to the accounts of other group companies and his family … Investigation also found that the money that the builder had taken for the project development was spent elsewhere …

Raid at 10 places
The Bangalore zonal team of ED conducted raids at 10 places on 1 August 2025. Many important documents and evidence were found from there, which revealed the fund diversion. Now, ED has attached the assets of the company and its promoter provisional. In this, Ozone Urbana Infra Developers Pvt. Ltd. 92 flats of Avenue Project, 13 flats of Aqua-2 project, 4.5 acres of commercial land and promoter S. Vasudevan and his wife have 179 acres of land. The total price of all these properties has been stated to be Rs 423.38 crore. However, the investigation of the case is going on.

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Ed Action on Waqf Board Request: Taking major action in the money laundering case, the ED has returned an amount of Rs 3.82 crore to the Karnataka State Waqf Board. This money was from the Waqf Board, which was wrongly transferred to other accounts through fraud.

The ED conducted this investigation under the ongoing investigation against Sushila Chintamani and others. The case started with an FIR, which was registered against two officers of Vijaya Bank and Syed Siraj Ahmed, an employee of the Waqf Board.

Transferred money in accounts of fake companies

The Waqf Board had given a fixed deposit of about Rs 4 crore through two checks in Vijaya Bank to open a fixed deposit, but instead of opening FD, these money was transferred to the accounts of fake companies. According to the ED, Mercedes cars were purchased from Rs 1.10 crore out of Rs 4 crore and Rs 2.72 crore was transferred to a fake company Ajay Sharma Trading Corporation.

ED returned money to the real entitled

ED tracked the entire money trail of this scam and attached property worth Rs 3.82 crore. After this, on 31 March 2017, ED also filed a charge sheet against 6 people and companies in the court. Under the PMLA law, the ED emphasized that the money which was incorrectly withdrawn, should be returned to its real entitlement.

When the court asked to return the money to the Waqf Board, the ED did not object to this. Finally, on 1 July 2025, ED returned the money to the Waqf Board, CEO Jilani H. Mokashi of the Karnataka State Waqf Board was handed over a banker check of Rs 3.82 crore.

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National Herald Money Laundering Case: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken major action in the National Herald Money Laundering case. The ED has started the process of capturing the attached properties of Associated Journals Limited (AJL). On 11 April 2025, ED sent notices to the property registrar of Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow. Apart from this, notice has also been sent to Jindal South West Projects Limited in Herald House, Mumbai, which is on rent on the 7th, 8th and 9th floors of that building. Now they have to deposit the rent for every month to ED.

ED investigation revealed that there has been a black earning of about Rs 988 crore in this case. For this reason, AJL properties and shares were attached on 20 November 2023, which cost around ₹ 751 crore. This action has now been approved by the authorized court on 10 April 2024.

Subramanian Swamy accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi

The entire case was started with a complaint by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, in which he alleged that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and his colleagues grabbed AJL’s assets worth 2000 crores by paying only 50 lakh rupees. When the matter was investigated, it has also come to light that more than Rs 85 crore was also moved around through fake donation, false fare and artificial advertisements. Now the ED has pasted notices to take possession of these properties and has started the process of taking possession of them.

What happened in ED investigation

According to the agency, AJL-Young Indian Network was allegedly used to raise illegal funds of Rs 18 crore, advance fare of Rs 38 crore and Rs 29 crore through advertisements. Officials said that the latest step aims to prevent continuous consumption, use and further production of contaminated assets.

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