Rs250 Crore Manipur Investment Fraud: ED Attaches Fresh Assets Worth Rs33.66 Crore of Birla Emporium, Ira Finance and Director Yumnam Singh

Moneylife Digital Team 02 January 2026

Economy & Nation

The directorate of enforcement (ED) has issued a second provisional attachment order (PAO) worth Rs33.66 Crore in connection with a large-scale investment fraud involving Birla Emporium Pvt Ltd, Ira Finance Pvt Ltd, the company director Yumnam Irabanta Singh and other associated entities in Manipur.

According to a release, the attachment relates to assets allegedly acquired through proceeds of crime generated by cheating about 5,000 investors across the state. With the latest attachment, the total value of movable and immovable properties provisionally seized in the case has risen to Rs61.68 Crore.

ED says it initiated the investigation based on first information reports (FIRs) registered by the crime investigation department (CID) at Manipur, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Mr Singh, the director of both Birla Emporium and Ira Finance. The FIRs alleged that between 2019 and 2021, Mr Singh and his associates operated a fraudulent investment and deposit scheme that promised investors unusually high returns.

Investigations revealed that the entities were running an unauthorised deposit scheme, collecting large sums of money from the public while assuring exorbitant returns. Instead, the funds were allegedly siphoned off by Mr Singh and his associates, causing a wrongful loss of more than Rs250 crore to investors and corresponding wrongful gains to the accused, ED says.

According to the agency, the scheme targeted around 5,000 gullible depositors in Manipur. The companies are also accused of providing loans against property, under which borrowers’ properties were later transferred and registered in the names of directors and staff of Birla Emporium through sale deeds. These properties are allegedly retained by the promoters without returning the funds or restoring ownership to the original borrowers.

ED further says that the company shut down operations in the first quarter of 2020, closing its offices without repaying the promised returns to depositors. Properties registered in the names of promoters and associates were kept under their custody, while the collected funds, classified as proceeds of crime, were allegedly used to acquire additional assets.

Earlier, ED had provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs28.02 Crore linked to Birla Emporium, Mr Singh and his associates. A prosecution complaint seeking confiscation of those assets was filed before the Special PMLA Court, Imphal East, on 6 June 2025, against the company, Mr Singh and others.

Further investigation led to the identification of 121 additional immovable properties registered in the names of Birla Emporium, Ira Finance, Mr Singh and their associates. These properties, valued at Rs33.66 Crore, are found to have been acquired using proceeds of crime and have now been provisionally attached.

ED says investigations in the case are ongoing, and further action will follow based on the outcome of the probe.

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