SHIMLA/DELHI, Sept 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has unearthed a sprawling web of undisclosed foreign assets linked to Delhi-based builder Manavinder Singh, his wife Sagri Singh, who also live in Shimla and their Imperial Group, after search operations in Shimla, Delhi and other locations on September 19 and 20 under FEMA, 1999.
During the raids, officials seized incriminating documents, digital records, and parallel books of accounts, along with cash worth about ₹50 lakh — including ₹50,000 in demonetised ₹500 notes — and foreign currency amounting to USD 14,700. Three lockers were also frozen.
Manavinder Singh is an old Cottonian as he had his schooling from the Bishop Cotton School Shimla and heads Old Cottonian Association.
Investigators say the trail of money stretches across multiple countries. A Dubai-based company, United Aerospace, was found holding assets worth ₹38 crore as on March 31, 2025, with lease payments from an Indian residential project flowing back to it, adding to the stash of undeclared assets abroad.
The Singh family has also been linked to a luxury villa in Koh Samui, Thailand — Villa Samayra — valued at over ₹16 crore. Undisclosed financial interests in firms incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and secret bank accounts in Singapore have also come to light.
The estimated value of these hidden assets across Singapore, Dubai, British Virgin Islands and Thailand is pegged at more than ₹80 crore.
Closer home, the ED found evidence of large-scale cash dealings in the Auramah Valley residential project at Naldehra, Himachal Pradesh.
Parallel books maintained at the site showed that nearly ₹29 crore in cash had already been collected as part of flat sales.
According to the agency, these cash proceeds were being moved out of India through hawala and other channels, and then either invested abroad in revenue-generating assets or round-tripped back into Indian entities controlled by the Singhs.
The seizures and findings, officials said, point to a pattern where real estate-generated cash was systematically siphoned out of the country to build hidden assets overseas.
The search operations have also led to the recovery of several incriminating records and digital evidence, now under scrutiny.
Local resentment has also been brewing around the Naldehra project.
“The sewage from these flats flows directly into the local khud, polluting the natural stream.
Now the builder is seeking over 500 water connections from our local supply when villagers themselves struggle for drinking water,” said a resident of the area.
The seizures and findings, officials said, point to a pattern where real estate-generated cash was systematically siphoned out of the country to build hidden assets overseas.
The search operations have also led to the recovery of several incriminating records and digital evidence, now under scrutiny.
Further investigation is in progress.
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