The Nagpur sub-zonal office of the directorate of enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs67.79 crore belonging to Corporate Power Ltd (CPL), the company promoters Manoj, Abhijeet and Abhishek Jayaswal and others, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attachment, ordered on 16 October 2025 marks another major step in the agency’s probe into one of the largest corporate loan diversion cases involving the Nagpur-based Abhijit group.
The attached assets include bank balances, lands, buildings, flats and commercial spaces spread across Maharashtra, Kolkata, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. According to ED, these were found to have been acquired using proceeds of crime generated through large-scale diversion and laundering of loan funds sanctioned to Corporate Power. The assets are held in the names of Manoj Jayaswal, his family members, several shell companies controlled and beneficially owned by him and key associates such as Santosh Jain who, allegedly, played an active role in laundering the illicit funds.
The money laundering case stems from a first information report (FIR) registered by central bureau of investigation (CBI) against Corporate Power, the company directors and others, for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery. The case was initiated following a complaint by Union Bank of India which accused the company of defrauding a consortium of lenders by misrepresenting project costs and diverting loan funds.
According to the complaint, Corporate Power was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) by the Abhijit group to set up a 1,080MW coal-based thermal power plant in Jharkhand, to be developed in two phases of 540MW each. The company availed substantial credit facilities from multiple banks by submitting manipulated project cost statements and false expenditure details.
However, instead of using the funds for the project, the promoters allegedly diverted large portions of the loans through a maze of shell entities and bogus transactions, causing the loan accounts to turn non-performing assets (NPAs) in FY13–14. The estimated loss to Union Bank of India alone stands at Rs4,037 crore, while the total exposure including interest amounts to around Rs11,379 crore.
ED’s investigation revealed a sophisticated web of money laundering involving more than 800 shell companies and over 5,000 bank accounts. The agency found that the Jayaswals and their associates used these entities to conceal the true ownership and movement of funds, layering transactions to obscure the audit trail. The diverted funds were then allegedly channelled into real estate purchases, investments and other personal assets.
Earlier, ED had conducted extensive search operations in Nagpur, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, leading to the recovery and seizure of several incriminating documents, digital devices, cash and the freezing of assets including listed shares, mutual funds and fixed deposits. Prior to the latest attachment, properties valued at Rs503.16 crore had already been seized or frozen by the agency (
ED Attaches Rs503.16 Crore Assets of Corporate Power and Promoter Jayaswal Family in Rs4,037 Crore Bank Fraud). With the fresh attachment of Rs67.79 crore, the total value of assets attached, seized or frozen in this case now stands at around Rs571 crore.
The scale of the fraud and the complexity of the laundering network underscore how corporate borrowers have exploited loopholes in financial oversight to divert public money. ED officials noted that the funds intended for a large-scale power project were systematically siphoned off into unrelated entities and personal assets, leaving banks with massive non-performing exposures.
The agency’s order stated that the attached assets were directly traceable to the proceeds of crime and were acquired through the laundering of misappropriated loan funds. The attachments have been made under Section 5 of the PMLA, which empowers ED to provisionally attach properties believed to be linked to money laundering activities.
ED’s statement added that further investigation is underway to trace additional layers of the laundering operation and to identify other beneficiaries involved in the diversion of funds. Officials say they are also examining potential overseas transactions and investments linked to the proceeds of crime.
