New Delhi, Feb 27 : As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted search operations at the offices of Bhutani Group and WTC Builders and its promoters in Delhi-NCR, the trouble mounted for the Noida-based real estate developer which has seen a tumultuous past.
This is not the first raid by an investigating agency on the Bhutani Group. The real estate company has been the target of different probe agencies in the past.
In January last year, 40 teams of the Income Tax (IT) department raided four builders of Noida for tax evasion. Bhutani Group was also part of the raids. In the search operation that lasted for six days, IT department officials seized cash amounting to Rs 1,500 crore.
The I-T officials also seized two pen drives hidden by the employees of Bhutani Group. The data recovered from the pen drive revealed that the Bhutani Group has accepted unaccounted cash worth Rs 595 crore since the financial year 2019-20. The group had received cash worth Rs 429 crore in the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
In November, Bhutani Infra acquired the commercial project ‘Logix City Center’ from PAG and Logix group promoters with an estimated cost of around Rs 1,000 crore.
According to the results of Logix BuildTech Pvt Ltd available on the website of Bhutani Group, the company reported a loss of Rs 29.39 crore in the second quarter of the financial year 2024-25. At the same time, the company’s income from operations during this period was Rs 21.70 crore.
Earlier this month, Bhutani Infra confirmed that it has withdrawn from any planned collaboration with the WTC Group and will have no role in any WTC Group’s current, ongoing, completed, or future projects.
Bhutani Infra CEO Ashish Bhutani said: “Our initial discussions with the WTC Group were intended to align with Bhutani Infra’s broader vision to contribute to India’s commercial real estate landscape.”
“However, we have chosen to step away from any association with the WTC Group fully. Bhutani Infra remains committed to its independent growth strategy and will continue delivering high-quality commercial projects that uphold our values of trust, integrity, and excellence with honesty and transparency,” he added.
Bhutani Group had signed an agreement in July 2024 to buy a majority stake in WTC. (IANS)